The U.S. unemployment rate stayed at 9.7 percent in February as employers cut a fewer-than-expected 36,000 jobs, the Labor Department reported Friday.
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Economists had forecast 50,000 job losses and that the jobless rate would rise to 9.8 percent
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The report said severe snowstorms that hit the east coast of the country in February might have affected job losses, but the impact was unclear.
In February, manufacturing added 1,000 jobs, but construction payrolls fell 64,000 jobs. Temporary hiring added 48,000.
The average workweek for all employees slipped to 33.8 hours last month from 33.9 hours in January.
The department also revised job losses for December and January, which showed 35,000 fewer jobs lost than previously reported.
Unemployment is one of the toughest challenges facing the Obama administration. The president has repeatedly said he will not rest until all qualified Americans can find jobs.
Some economists say the unemployment rate, which has not risen since October, could be bottoming out. Still, 8.36 million jobs have been lost since the start of the recession in December 2007 and 14.9 million Americans are unemployed.
U.S. gross domestic product (GDP), the broad measure of the overall economy, grew 5.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009, according to the latest revised data released by the Commerce Department.
But economists believe the growth pace may slow to 3 percent in the first quarter of 2010. And the modest growth will not create enough jobs to significantly reduce unemployment, with the government stimulus policies expected to wane in the second half of this year./.