WASHINGTON: US employers added more than 200,000 workers to their payrolls for a third straight month in February, a sign the economy was strengthening and in less need of further monetary stimulus from the Federal Reserve.
Friday's Labor Department report, which showed nonfarm payrolls increased 227,000 last month, also bolstered President Barack Obama's chances for re-election.
The jobless rate held at a three-year low of 8.3 percent even as people flooded back into the labor force to hunt for work, and 61,000 more jobs were created in December and January than previously thought.
"The economy, while nowhere near fully healed, has enough momentum to move forward on its own and seems to be gaining strength," said Megan Ellis, an economist at John Hancock Financial Services in Boston. "For now, the Fed has little to do except sit, wait and hope."
Stocks on Wall Street closed higher on the data, while Treasury debt prices dipped as traders dialed down the prospects for more bond buying by the US central bank.
The dollar rallied to a near 11-month high against the yen and was on track for a fifth straight weekly gain versus the Japanese currency, its best run in almost five years.
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke last week described the jobs market as "far from normal" and said continued improvement would require stronger demand for US goods and services.
Still, he suggested the outlook would have to deteriorate for the US central bank, which meets next week, to launch another round of monetary easing to drive interest rates lower.
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