Unemployment down 0.2%, 236,000 jobs added

Credit: Calculated Risk

Good news, I think. Fresh electrons from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that unemployment for February was down 0.2% to 7.7%, with 236,000 jobs added to non-farm payrolls. The broader U6 measurement of unemployment showed a drop of 0.1% to 14.3%.

Chemical manufacturing employment increased by 2,600 jobs to 792,600 for February. Unemployment for college graduates went up 0.1% to 3.8%.

The news media is going to say that this is a great report because it beat expectations, and I think that's true. I think the thing that they're going to miss is the biggest drop in unemployment by education came with people with less than a high school diploma. Unemployment for them stands at 11.2% for February, down 0.8% from January.

Things are moving slowly in the right direction.

Thanks, as always, to Calculated Risk for the graph.