Jobless claims rise, market still reflecting growth

The government will release job numbers for February on Friday, and economists are predicting another strong month of gains, similar to January’s addition of 243,000 jobs, and probably around the average of the 200,000 jobs a month that have been added since November. 

Good news on Friday would continue a six-month run of job growth that is the best in six years. All told, 1.13 million jobs have been added since September. 

Improvement in the labor market has sent the jobless rate down to 8.3 percent from 9 percent. Still, that is persistently high and economists aren’t forecasting much more of an improvement this year as the economic recovery continues to move forward in fits and starts. 

Still, there are other signs that the economy is experiencing a broader recovery, several reports released Wednesday showed. 

The ADP national employment report showed a gain of 216,000 private-sector jobs in February, which came in better than its January report. ADP doesn’t track government figures, which have led to lower job gains because of job cuts. 

A small gain in productivity at the end of the year is a sign that employers may need to hire to keep up with increasing consumer demand. 

Also, the economy grew at a faster rate than expected at the end of 2011 — 3 percent — another good sign for the job market.

Still, the labor market remains in a state of recovery — about 13 million are unemployed and millions more have dropped out of the job market.

The number of people continuing to collect benefits was up by 10,000, to 3.42 million, in the week ended Feb. 25. 

Unemployed workers who have used up their 26 weeks of state benefits — 20 in some states — and have shifted to collecting federal benefits rose by about 26,800 to 3.4 million in the week ended Feb. 18.