In this Feb. 1, 2011 photo, an unemployed man takes a roll call at the Day Worker Center of Mountain View in Mountain View, Calif. The unemployment rate dropped sharply last month to 8.9 percent, the lowest level in nearly two years. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)JEANNINE AVERSA, AP Economics Writer
WASHINGTON – Employers hired in February at the fastest pace in almost a year and the unemployment rate fell to 8.9 percent – a nearly two-year low.
The economy added 192,000 jobs last month, with factories, professional and business services, education and health care among those expanding employment. Retailers, however, trimmed jobs. State and local governments, wrestling with budget shortfalls, slashed 30,000 jobs, the most since November. Federal government hiring was flat.
Private employers added 222,000 jobs last month, the most since April. That shows that companies are feeling more confident in the economy and about their own financial prospects. And it bolstered hopes that businesses will shift into a more aggressively hiring mode and boost the economic recovery.
The unemployment rate is now at the lowest point since April 2009. It has been falling for three months, down from 9.8 percent in November, marking the sharpest three-month decline since 1983.