The Bureau of Labor Statistics is reporting that the economy added 236,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate fell to 7.7 percent, beating analyst expectations.
The Labor Department's jobs report for February is expected to be decent: Signs are that the labor market continues to improve. Aren't the sequester's budget cuts going to have any effect?
The Dow is still in record territory in early trading this morning. The surge comes on the heels of strong jobs data from the Labor Department, which show applications for unemployment benefits have fallen to a five-year low.
In its jobs report for the month of January, the Labor Department made major revisions to its numbers for the months of November and December, revealing even stronger job growth at the end of the year than previously thought.
A report out today revealed that 157,000 jobs were created in January, but the unemployment rate actually rose to 7.9 percent. Take the average of the two, and it looks like more of the same: slow, but steady, growth.