Unemployment Drops, Economy Adds Jobs

Washington, DC, March 4, 2011 -- The national unemployment rate dropped to 8.9% in February, and the economy added 192,000 non-farm jobs, as private-sector employers added 222,000 jobs, according to the Department of Labor’s employment situation survey.

The number of jobs added was close to economists’ expectations of 200,000.

The department also revised its data for December and January’s employment numbers by 30,000 each month, saying that 152,000 jobs were added to the economy in December and 63,000 jobs were added in January.

About 33,000 jobs were added in the manufacturing sectors, while economists were predicting 25,000.

Builders added 33,000 jobs last month.