Payroll employment increases in February (+175,000); unemployment rate changes little (6.7 percent)
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 175,000 in February, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 6.7 percent. Employment increased in professional and business services and in wholesale trade but declined in information.
Household Survey Data
Both the number of unemployed persons (10.5 million) and the unemployment
rate (6.7 percent) changed little in February. The jobless rate has shown
little movement since December. Over the year, the number of unemployed
persons and the unemployment rate were down by 1.6 million and 1.0
percentage point, respectively. (See table A-1.)
....
The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more)
increased by 203,000 in February to 3.8 million; these individuals accounted
for 37.0 percent of the unemployed. The number of long-term unemployed
was down by 901,000 over the year. (See table A-12.)
....
The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes
referred to as involuntary part-time workers) was little changed at 7.2
million in February. These individuals were working part time because their
hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find full-time work.
(See table A-8.)
....
Both the civilian labor force participation rate (63.0 percent) and the
employment-population ratio (58.8 percent) were unchanged in February. The
labor force participation rate was down 0.5 percentage point from a year
ago, while the employment-population ratio was little changed over the
year. (See table A-1.)
Read more: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm
The number I had heard tossed around on the radio this morning (WTOP in DC) was an increase of 149,000, so this is more than expected. You can pick out various aspects of the news to make things as good or as bad as you want. There are enough statistics in the various tables to support any argument. Have at it.
Live From New York! It’s Jobs Friday!
8:01 am Mar 7, 2014 Markets
—National Archives
Yes, it’s that time again, folks. It’s the first Friday of the month, when for one ever-so-brief moment the interests of Wall Street, Washington and Main Street are all aligned on one thing: Jobs.
A fresh update on the U.S. employment situation for February hits the wires at 8:30 a.m. New York time, offering one of the most important snapshots on how the economy fared last month. Expectations are for 152,000 new jobs to be created — up from 113,000 jobs added in January — with the unemployment rate ticking down to 6.5% from 6.6%.
Here at MoneyBeat HQ, we’ll be offering color commentary and tracking the markets before and after the data crosses the wires. Feel free to weigh-in yourself, via the comments section. And while you’re here, why don’t you sign up to follow us on Twitter.
Enjoy the show.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Good morning, Freepers and DUers alike. I especially welcome our friends from across the aisle. You're paying for this information too, so you ought to see this as much as anyone. Please, everyone, put aside your differences long enough to digest the information. After that, you can engage in your usual donnybrook.
If you don't have the time to study the report thoroughly, here is the news in a nutshell:
Commissioner's Statement on The Employment Situation
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/jec.nr0.htm
What is important about these statistics is not so much this month’s number, but the trend. So let’s look at some earlier numbers.
ADP, for employment in February 2014:
U.S. Economy Added 139,000 Private-Sector Jobs in February, According to ADP National Employment Report
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014745826
Bureau of Labor Statistics, for employment in January 2014:
Payroll employment rises in January (+113,000); unemployment rate changes little (6.6%)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014721228
ADP, for employment in January 2014:
U.S. Economy Added 175,000 Private-Sector Jobs in January, According to ADP National Employment Report
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014719171
BLS, for employment in December 2013, which was wildly out of line with ADP's figure:
December unemployment rate declines (6.7%); payroll employment edges up (+74,000)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014693851
ADP, for employment in December 2013:
U.S. Economy Added 238,000 Private-Sector Jobs in December, According to ADP National Employment Report
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014691789
So how many jobs must be created every month to have an effect on the unemployment rate? There's an app for that.
Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta Jobs Calculator™
Well, enough of that. On with the show.
Monthly Employment Reports
The large print giveth, and the fine print taketh away.
A DU'er pointed out a long time ago that, if I'm going to post the link to the press release, I should include the link to all the tables that provide additional ways of examining the data. Specifically, I should post a link to Table A-15. Alternative measures of labor underutilization. Table A-15 includes those who are not considered unemployed, on the grounds that they have become discouraged about the prospects of finding a job and have given up looking. Here are those links.
Employment Situation
Table A-15. Alternative measures of labor underutilization
From the February 10, 2011, DOL Newsletter:
Take Three
Secretary Solis answers three questions about how the Bureau of Labor Statistics calculates unemployment rates.
How does BLS determine the unemployment rate and the number of jobs that were added each month?
BLS uses two different surveys to get these numbers. The household survey, or Current Population Survey (CPS), involves asking people, from about 60,000 households, a series of questions to assess each person in the household's activities including work and searching for work. Their responses give us the unemployment rate. The establishment survey, or Current Employment Statistics (CES), surveys 140,000 employers about how many people they have on their payrolls. These results determine the number of jobs being added or lost.
= new reply since forum marked as read
I actually sat on the BLS page and refreshed and caught how they do the release... just for the heck of it.
at 8:30. 
take months for all the data to get back (businesses and other sources aren't required, so sometimes it takes a while). This is a know part of getting this data, they state in their writings on the BLS web site that this is a snapshot that will be revised, and lots and lots of financial folk tell you that this is only a trend number, that it won't be complete data for months (and, they may come along with a change and go back years to revise that), that you must take the data in a series, not by individual result, yada, yada, yada.
Despite that, millions of people react to the number that is released with the report as if was written on 3 stone tablets (oops, make that 2 stone tablets) and brought down from the mountain to us. It's who we are as Americans... 
