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February Adds 227K Jobs

Obama: “Economy getting stronger.”

Another good jobs report. The U.S. economy added 227,000 new nonfarm jobs in February, better than expectations, as the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the much-anticipated jobs data for the second month of the 2012 election year. Unemployment held steady at 8.3 percent—neither a big boost nor a bust for President Obama’s reelection chances this fall. Obama highlighted the positives of the report in a speech at a factory in Virginia Friday afternoon, saying “the economy is getting stronger” and that the report “gives me confidence there are better days ahead.” The bureau said last month that 243,000 jobs were added in January and unemployment declined by 0.2 percentage point in an encouraging report that was much welcomed by Obama supporters. The January figure was revised upward to 284,000 today.