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Health care, manufacturing jobs rise as U.S. unemployment falls
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The national unemployment rate ticked down slightly in February by two-tenths of one percentage point from 7.9 percent to 7.7 percent as the country added 236,000 new jobs.
Despite those numbers, the size of the civilian labor force, which includes people with jobs and people without but who are looking for jobs, dropped by 130,000. The labor force participation rate fell by one-tenth of one percentage point.
The number of people who remained out of work grew slightly to 4.8 million, with long-term unemployed workers still accounting for 40.2 percent of those who are unemployed.
Manufacturing employment grew by 14,000 jobs, although the manufacture of primary metals, such as steel, fell by 2,000 jobs.
There were 6,400 more jobs fabricating metal products.
Health care added 32,000 jobs, with hospitals adding 8,900 jobs. Educational services, which are non-government education jobs, cut 14,700 jobs.
Government cut 10,000 jobs nationwide. The U.S. Postal Service cut 4,200 jobs and public schools cut 2,500 jobs across the country.
First Published March 8, 2013 8:59 am
