Jobs report: Economy shifts into gear
The unemployment rate fell to 5.5 percent in February.
To find proof positive, look no further than the U.S. labor Department’s monthly jobs report, released March 6: In the dead of winter and well after the Christmas season, the unemployment rate dropped to 5.5 percent.
The figures are particularly poignant when considered against the report for February of last year, when the unemployment rate was 6.7 percent. In February 2014, the economy had been adding an average of 189,000 jobs per month during the previous 12-months.
It is a considerably different story now. Employers added 295,000 jobs in February. During the past year, the average monthly gain was 266,000 jobs. The new report shows job increases in fields ranging from food services to health care to construction.
There were 8.7 million unemployed workers in February. Last year at this time, 10.5 million people were unemployed.
Even as the economy improves, however, the recovery is not in full swing for everyone. The number of long-term unemployed remains about 2.7 million. These people have been unemployed for 27 weeks or more and account for roughly a third of the unemployed. Last year, the situation for the long-term unemployed was dire. In February 2014, the number of long-term unemployed increased by 203,000 to 3.8 million.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics also reported little change in the number of people employed part time for economic reasons -- involuntary part-time workers, as they are known. There are 6.6 million of them.
These are people who want to work full time but have had their hours cut back or were unable to find a full-time job. Another disconcerting part of the report is the number of “discouraged” workers. There were 732,000 -- little changed from a year earlier.
“Discouraged” workers are people not looking for employment because they believe no jobs are available for them.
In February, average hourly earnings increased by 3 cents to $24.78.
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