US jobless rate climbs from 5-year low

Employers added more workers than projected in February, indicating the US economy is starting to bounce back from a weather-induced setback. The jobless rate climbed from a five-year low.

The 175,000 gain in employment followed a revised 129,000 increase the prior month that was bigger than initially estimated, Labour Department figures showed yesterday in Washington. The median forecast of economists in a Bloomberg survey called for a 149,000 advance in February. Unemployment rose to 6.7% from 6.6% as more people entered the labour force and couldn’t find work.

The report indicates employers remain upbeat about the economy’s prospects after winter storms and freezing temperatures across the eastern US slowed consumer spending, housing and manufacturing.

“It’s a pretty good report, given the weather,” said Stuart Hoffman, chief economist at PNC Financial Services Group in Pittsburgh. “You had a pretty good rise in average hourly earnings, you had some good gains in jobs in a couple of different sectors.”

The figures showed hiring at professional and business services increased by the most in a year, while payrolls also rebounded in education and health services. State and local government agencies, factories and construction firms also added to headcounts last month.

Revisions to prior reports added a total of 25,000 jobs to overall payrolls in the previous two months.

The unemployment rate was forecast to hold at 6.6% in February. The Labour Department’s survey of households showed an increase in people entering the labour force, while few of them were able to find work. The so-called participation rate held at 63%.

- Bloomberg