The unemployment rate is holding at 9.7 percent following February job loss calculations released on Friday. There were fewer jobs lost in February than expected despite adverse weather conditions. Employers cut 36,000 net jobs for the month according to the Labor Department, significantly less than the 50,000 forecast. The new figures indicate, while the labor market remains fragile, it is stabilizing. Still, 14.9 million Americans were unemployed in February.
The latest data is consistent for economist and government predictions for the year that anticipate the unemployment rate to decline only slightly from its current level over the course of 2010.
Calculations on job losses by other organizations fell far below government reports. Earlier in the week, it was estimated that job losses were somewhere in the 20,000 range, a disparity resulting from differing responses to the snow. Snowstorms in the Northeast during the second week in February, when payroll numbers are gathered, has many retail and construction workers out of work for the week. Hours were cut to for safety reasons, making it appear employees were unemployed rather than responding to a short-term safety hazard.
The 64,000 jobs cut from construction, the highest of any sector, indicate that this was in fact the case.
This glitch could likely mean March will see dramatically improved payroll numbers.
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