The US jobless rate held steady at 9.7 per cent in February as employers shed 34,000 jobs during the month, dpa quoted the US Labour Department as reporting today. The department said severe snow storms in parts of the country may have prevented some new hiring. Construction and information sectors saw continuing job losses, while manufacturing and retail industries were unchanged. The report numbers were better than most economists expected, helping push stocks up more than 0.5 per cent within minutes of opening trading in New York. A survey by Bloomberg News had predicted the jobless rate would climb to 9.8 per cent. The US labour market has been struggling for months, despite the fact that the world's largest economy likely pulled out of recession some time in the summer of 2009. Hiring of temporary workers continued to increase, adding 47,000 jobs in February. The spike is according to some analysts a sign the jobs market could be on the mend after months of stiff losses. The report also revised the past two months' labour numbers slightly: 26,000 jobs were lost in January, up from an earlier forecast of 20,000; while 105,000 jobs were shed in December, down from 150,000. Businesses cut more than 8 million jobs since the US entered one of its deepest-ever recessions in December 2007. US Labour Secretary Hilda Solis said hiring trends were beginning to point in the "right direction" but acknowledged the jobs market had yet to embark on a full-scale recovery. "There's a lot of restructuring that's going on in the economy," Solis told US broadcaster CNBC. The lack of strong job growth has forced US lawmakers to consider another round of jobs stimulus programmes. The Senate could send a 15-billion-dollar stimulus measure - a mix of tax incentives and infrastructure spending - to President Barack Obama's desk next week.
