U.S. crude oil prices edged higher on Friday, supported by confirmation that the nation's jobs market has improved dramatically in recent months.
March crude rose $1.48, or 1.5 percent, to settle at $97.84 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Still, crude was down 1.7 percent for the week.
The U.S. economy added far more jobs than were expected in the month of January, according to new government statistics released Friday, with the job growth unexpectedly pushing the unemployment rate down to 8.3 percent, its lowest level in almost 3 years.
The Labor Department report showed that the non-farm payroll employment jumped by 243,000 jobs in January following a revised increase of 203,000 jobs in December. Economists had expected employment to increase by about 140,000 jobs.
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