"With these revisions, employment gains both for December and January combined were 30,000 more than previously reported".

However, Americans' wages decreased 0.1% from the prior month, putting the annual gain at only 2.2%. But the latest data on the labor market, released this morning, shows no sign that the economy is in trouble.

The unemployment rate held steady at 4.9 percent, its lowest level since 2008. That is still a very strong point that we should continue to expect to remain strong going forward this year.

Stock investors appeared to cheer last month's job growth. Jobs grew in health care, retail, food services, construction and education. Average hour earnings of private firm workers decreased $0.03 to $25.35 on February.

The US central bank - the Federal Reserve - could see that apparent economic resilience as justification for resuming interest rates hikes, not this month but perhaps as early as June.

Still, the headline number - the one most media outlets will grab hold of and cling to - of 242,000 increased the average gain over the last three months to 228,000. That pushed the labor force participation rate - the percentage of adults in the workforce - up to 62.9 percent, the highest level since January 2015. Manufacturers, for example, trimmed 18,000 jobs, and companies involved in oil and natural gas extraction eliminated 15,000 position. If most analysts doubt an increase in interest rates from the meeting due to the global slowdown and volatility in financial conditions in a context of inflation still silent, the employment figures for February certainly rely on future increases in the rate table later in the year. The dollar slipped against a basket of currencies on concerns about wage growth. The unemployment rate is seen steady at an eight-year low of 4.9 percent.

"First, average hourly earnings declined in February, slowing the wage acceleration momentum".

Their argument is that jobs growth has been above 200,000 for so long because there has been a steady supply of surplus labor - largely from unemployed workers and those transferring from the non-payroll sector - flowing back into the labor market.

In an economy that's been looking for good news, it's encouraging that the US economy has been adding jobs 72 months in a row.

Prices of U.S. Treasuries fell after the data, while U.S. stock index futures rose.

Professional and business services that mostly employ white-collar workers such as technicians and software developers only added 23,000 jobs. Since hitting a peak in September 2014, the mining sector has lost 171,000 jobs. Although the overall numbers regarding the creation of new jobs look definitely positive, there are few reasons to be concerned about some of the underlying numbers from the report.