Job Gains Strong, But Jobless Rate Climbs By Tim Ahmann WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. employers added 262,000 jobs last month, the biggest gain in four months, but the good news for workers was tempered by a rise in the jobless rate. Other reports on Friday showed an unexpected, if slim, rise in factory orders in January and a dip in consumer sentiment last month. The Labor Department said February's increase in nonfarm employment, the biggest since October, came as auto workers returned from temporary layoffs and construction activity snapped back from an unusually cold January. The unemployment rate, however, rose to 5.4 percent from January's 5.2 percent. The rise in the jobless rate, drawn from a separate survey of households, partly reflected an increase in workers entering the labor force. The payroll gain came in above Wall Street forecasts, but still shy of levels some traders had braced for after a service-sector employment gauge on Thursday showed a big jump. Stock prices rose, with the blue chip Dow Jones industrial average reaching a 3-1/2 year high. U.S. government bond prices also gained, while the dollar fell, as the report was seen lessening chances the Federal Reserve would step up its campaign of interest-rate rises to keep inflation at bay. Some economists were optimistic the payroll gain, which snapped a string of three relatively sluggish months capped with a revised rise of 132,000 in January, could herald more vigorous job growth, but others said it was too soon to say. David Berson, chief economist at mortgage market giant Fannie Mae (FNM.N: Quote , Profile , Research ) , said the numbers told a "bipolar story," with solid jobs creation on one side, and the rise in the jobless rate and unchanged readings on earnings and the length of the work week on the other. "It certainly doesn't indicate that the economy is slipping, not with the pickup in payroll numbers, but ... there are no inflation signals from this as well," he said. WELCOME BACK Manufacturing jobs rose for the first time since August, although the department said much of the 20,000 job increase reflected auto workers returning from temporary layoffs.     Continued ... Quelle "Job Gains Strong, But Jobless Rate Climbs" : reuters.com Main page for "Job Gains Strong, But Jobless Rate Climbs"