The Bureau of Labor Statistics released their February Employment Situation Summary last Friday, announcing the unemployment rate had decreased a tenth of a percent to 8.9% in February of 2011. The report also found that employment has increased for blue collar jobs, such as manufacturing, construction, and transportation and warehousing.
Over the month of February, employment increased by 192,000, and the number of unemployed people fell 200,000 to 13.7 million. The number of long-term unemployed (those unemployed 27 weeks or longer) also fell by 217,000, a sign that those long-term unemployed are increasingly finding employment.
A number of job sectors had notable increases in employment. Manufacturing jobs increased by 33,000 in February, including increases in machinery jobs (+9,000) and metal products jobs (+7,000). Construction jobs also grew by 33,000, following a decline of 22,000 in January, most likely due to bad winter weather. Healthcare jobs increased by 34,000, and transportation and warehousing jobs increased by 22,000.
State and local government jobs fell by 30,000.
