Washington, DC, March 4--Payrolls grew by 262,000 in February after a downwardly revised 132,000 increase in January, according to the Labor Department.
Analysts had forecast an increase of 220,000 in job creation numbers for the month and for the unemployment rate to remain at 5.2%.
The Labor Department revised job growth numbers in January and December to reflect 8,000 more jobs than previously estimated.
February's payroll increase was the largest increase since last October.
