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US jobless rate drops to 5.5%, lowest in 7 years

February marked the 12th straight month payrolls have increased by at least 200,000, the best run since a 19-month stretch that ended in March 1995.

By Michelle Jamrisko | Updated on March 06, 2015
Marine Corps veteran Christopher Triana, left, talks about job prospects to U.S. Border Patrol agent Frank Miller, right, at the annual Veterans Career and Resource Fair in Miami. (AP Photo/Alan Diaz)

(Bloomberg) — Employers added more jobs than forecast in February and the unemployment rate dropped to 5.5 percent, the lowest in almost seven years, showing the labor market is sustaining progress after the best performance since 1999.

The 295,000 advance in payrolls last month followed a 239,000 January increase that was smaller than previously reported, figures from the Labor Department showed Friday in Washington. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for a 235,000 increase. The unemployment rate fell from 5.7 percent, while hourly earnings rose less than forecast.

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