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Payroll numbers surged in February, Labor Department reports

By Palm Beach Business.com

WASHINGTON — Employers added 236,000 jobs in February, while the jobless rate fell two basis points to 7.7 percent, the Labor Department reported Friday.

The number of jobs added is the most since February 2012, while the rate is the lowest since December.

Sectors adding jobs included professional and business services, construction, and health care. Administrative and support services, which includes temp agencies, added 44,000 jobs and accounting and bookkeeping services added 11,000 jobs to lead the services sector.

Government at all levels and transportation and warehousing were the two sectors that lost jobs.

The Labor Department also reported that it lowered the job numbers for January to 119,000 from the originally reported 157,000, while revising upward December’s total to 219,000 from 196,000.

According to February’s report, the total number of unemployed workers was 12 million, down 300,000 from January and down 500,000 from a year ago.