In yet another sign of economic improvement, the latest jobs report showed that the U.S. added 227,000 jobs in February, while the unemployment rate stayed at 8.3 percent. The Hill reports that employment numbers from previous months have also been revised up:
The number is slightly better than expected and represents the third straight month the economy added more than 200,000 jobs. That’s good news for President Obama, who has seen his reelection chances improve with the better labor market.
The report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics also revised figures for December and January up from 203,000 to 223,000, and from 243,00 to 284,000, respectively.
The reason the number of jobs increased but the unemployment rate was unchanged is because more Americans are flooding back into the jobs force, after dropping out due to the lack of available work. This is another indication that the economy is at least on the path to recovery.
However, the fact that the unemployment rate remains above 8 percent is still a political burden for Obama, and he’s likely to go into the general election with the highest unemployment rate of any president since World War II.
Republican leaders are applauding the latest jobs figures, but note that Obama is still pursuing policies that will slow the recovery and fail to reduce the national deficit.
“Three years of ‘stimulus’ spending, tax hikes, and excessive government regulations have left us with unemployment that has remained above eight percent for 37 consecutive months, and Americans are increasingly worried about the amount of debt owed to countries like China,” said Speaker of the House John Boehner in a statement this morning. “Meanwhile, gas prices have nearly doubled as the Obama administration has rejected new energy production, blocked and lobbied against projects like the Keystone XL pipeline, and promoted policies that would drive prices up even further.”