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The February jobs report is out, and it just barely missed expectations.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 192,000 workers were added to nonfarm payrolls in February, below Wall Street's estimate of 200,000.
The unemployment rate was unchanged at 6.7%.
All told, markets appear to be pleased with the report.
Bill McBride of Calculated Risk runs a chart every month that puts the jobs recovery into better perspective.
The [graph] shows the job losses from the start of the employment recession, in percentage terms, compared to previous post WWII recessions. The dotted line is ex-Census hiring.
This shows the depth of the recent employment recession - worse than any other post-war recession - and the relatively slow recovery due to the lingering effects of the housing bust and financial crisis.
We're going to have to retire it soon - we're now just 0.3% below the pre-recession peak, McBride notes.
But it still shows how scary the financial crisis was and how slow the recovery has been.
