US job creation heralds stronger recovery

Reuters: Employers added more than 200,000 workers to their payrolls for a third straight month in February, a sign the economy was strengthening and in less need of further monetary stimulus from the Federal Reserve.

Labor Department report, which showed nonfarm payrolls increased 227,000 last month, also bolstered President Barack Obama’s chances for re-election.

The jobless rate held at a three-year low of 8.3 per cent even as people flooded back into the labor force to hunt for work, and 61,000 more jobs were created in December and January than previously thought.

“The economy, while nowhere near fully healed, has enough momentum to move forward on its own and seems to be gaining strength,” said Megan Ellis, an economist at John Hancock Financial Services in Boston. “For now, the Fed has little to do except sit, wait and hope.”

Stocks on Wall Street closed higher on the data, while Treasury debt prices dipped as traders dialed down the prospects for more bond buying by the U.S. central bank.

The dollar rallied to a near 11-month high against the yen and was on track for a fifth straight weekly gain versus the Japanese currency, its best run in almost five years.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke last week described the jobs market as “far from normal” and said continued improvement would require stronger demand for U.S. goods and services.

Still, he suggested the outlook would have to deteriorate for the U.S. central bank, which meets next week, to launch another round of monetary easing to drive interest rates lower.

A Reuters poll of 18 of the 21 big Wall Street firms that deal directly with the Fed found that 14 expect the central bank will eventually decide the economy needs more help, although they scaled back expectations for how many bonds it would buy.

The labor force participation rate - the percentage of working-age Americans either with a job or looking for one - rose to 63.9 per cent from 63.7 per cent in January, suggesting Americans are growing more optimistic on job prospects.

The workforce increased by 476,000 people, the largest gain since April 2010. A broad measure of unemployment, which includes people who want to work but have stopped looking and those working only part time but who want more work, dropped to a three-year low of 14.9 per cent.