March 11, 2006	Saturday	Safar 10, 1427

WASHINGTON, March 10: US employers added 243,000 new jobs in February, the Labour Department said on Friday in a report that suggested robust economic growth but also sparked worries about rising inflation pressures.

The jobless rate ticked up to 4.8 per cent in February from a five-year low of 4.7 per cent, as more people came back to the jobs market, the report showed.

Wall Street economists were betting on a February increase of 210,000 for non-farms payrolls. The January figure was revised down to show 170,000 new jobs from 193,000.

Average hourly earnings increased by five cents in February to $16.47. Hourly earnings are up 3.5 per cent in the past year.

The report, seen as one of the best indicators of economic momentum, helped ease concerns about a slowdown in the world’s biggest economy.

“Employment growth is very healthy for the economy,” said Stephen Gallagher at Societe Generale. “Job and income gains will remain supportive for consumer activity.”

Gallagher added that solid corporate profits “should encourage further hiring” and estimated that the report is consistent with US economic growth of “nearly five per cent” in the first quarter.

Joel Naroff at Naroff Economic Advisors said the downside of the report is the likelihood of higher interest rates.

“The labour market continues to strengthen and that is leading to rising wages, all good news for workers but maybe not so for the Fed,” he said.

“Strong job growth generally leads to slowing productivity gains. Couple that with accelerating wage increases and you have building employment cost pressures,” Naroff added.—AFP