Employers, meanwhile, added 97,000 new jobs to their payrolls in February, the fewest in two years, as bad winter weather forced construction companies to slash 62,000 jobs, the most since 1991. Factories, feeling the strain of the troubled housing and auto industries, also continued to cut jobs. They eliminated 14,000 positions last month.
On a more encouraging note, job gains in the previous two months turned out to be stronger than previously estimated. Employers added 226,000 new jobs in December, versus the 206,000 last estimated. Payrolls grew by 146,000 in January, up from a previous estimate of 111,000.
Translation: as has happened every month of the Bush economy, job rates estimates are conservative and low at the start of the month, and more jobs are miraculously discovered in the revised report at the end of the month. Therefore, when the rates are announced, reporters always emphasize the low early numbers to freak us out, and mention the revised good numbers for previous months as an afterthought.
Can we have a federal program to get business reporters free Zoloft?
