Reinforcing expectations of an interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve next week, the Labor Department released a report on Friday showing stronger than expected job growth in the month of February.
The Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment jumped by 235,000 jobs in February after surging up by a revised 238,000 jobs in January.
Economists had expected employment to climb by about 195,000 jobs compared to the addition of 227,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.
With the stronger than expected job growth, the unemployment rate edged down to 4.7 percent in February from 4.8 percent in January, matching expectations.
The report also said the annual rate of growth in average hourly employee earnings accelerated to 2.8 percent in February from 2.6 percent in January.
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