US employers created 262,000 jobs last month as auto workers returned from temporary layoffs and construction activity recovered after a cold January, the government said today.
It was the biggest gain in four months and double January's pace.
But the unemployment rate rose to 5.4 per cent from January's 5.2 per cent, but the gain partly reflected an increase in workers entering the labor force, the Labor Department said.
The median forecast of Wall Street economists polled a week ago was for a nonfarm payroll gain of 220,000 jobs, but yesterday a big jump in a measure of service-sector employment led some traders to brace for a stronger number.
Forecasters had expected the jobless rate to hold steady. Stock futures and prices for US government bonds rose, while the value of the dollar slipped, as traders saw the report lessening chances the Federal Reserve would step up its campaign of interest-rate rises to keep inflation at bay.