Businesses in the United States boosted payrolls more than forecast in February, while the jobless rate remained unchanged from January's 8.3 percent.
In its closely watched monthly report, the U.S. Labor Department said Friday that employers hired 227,000 new workers last month. In addition, the report revised upward the number of people hired in January to 284,000.
Until February, the jobless rate had fallen for five straight months in the U.S. -- an indication that the world's largest economy is steadily recovering from the severe economic downturn that was the country's worst since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
As hiring has increased in recent months, the government said more jobless workers started looking for employment again in February. That left last month's unemployment rate unchanged.
The government said the job growth was broad-based, and included both higher-paying and lower-paying jobs. Professional and business services, health care, and the leisure and hospitality industries added the biggest number of jobs.