Payrolls Rise by 110,000; Unemployment Drops to 5.2%

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mployers added 110,000 workers to payrolls in February and the unemployment rate fell to 5.2% from 5.4% a month earlier, the Labor Department said Friday.

The jobs gain was about half what analysts had expected, news reports said. It followed a revised 243,000 February gain that was smaller than previously reported, Labor said.

Economists had forecast an unemployment rate of 5.3% for March and predicted an unemployment rate of 5.1% for the full year 2005, compared with 5.5% last year, Bloomberg reported.

Since employment levels drive so much economic activity, an increase in employment can help consumer confidence and spending patterns, which affect trucking demand.

Manufacturing employment fell by 8,000, the sixth decline in seven months, and the manufacturing workweek dropped six minutes to 40.5 hours, Labor said.

Service-industry employment, which includes retailers, banks and government agencies, rose 86,000 in March, the smallest level since July, after rising 191,000 in February, the department reported.