Fewer Jobs Cut Than Expected in February

Washington, DC, March 5, 2010--Employers cut fewer jobs than expected and the unemployment rate held at 9.7 percent in February, according to the Labor Department.

The department also said it wouldn't estimate how much snow storms affected hiring.

Employers cut 36,000 jobs, less than the 50,000 economists had expected.

Economists had estimated that the storms could inflate job losses by 100,000 or more.

The department revised its estimate of job losses for January from 20,000 to 26,000.

Many industries that economists thought might be hardest hit -- construction, retail, and hotels and restaurants -- didn't seem to be heavily affected.

The construction industry lost 64,000 jobs, compared with an average of about 40,000 in the previous three months.

Including people who have given up on their job searches or are working part-time but would prefer full-time work, the so-called "underemployment" rate rose to 16.8 percent from 16.5 percent last month. That reflects a jump in the number of involuntary part-time workers. The figure is below October's all-time high of 17.4 percent.

One encouraging sign in the report: The number of long-term unemployed -- those out of work for six months or more -- fell for the first time since November 2008, to 6.1 million from 6.3 million.