US unemployment rate stays at 6.7%

The U.S. economy last month added 192,000 jobs, allfrom the private sector, and the unemployment rate remained at 6.7 percent, the U.S.Department of Labor reported on Friday.The current U.S. jobs recovery has been the slowest since the department begantracking such data in 1939.Some 10.5 million Americans remain without work, 36 percent have been jobless forat least six months, and an additional 7.4 million people are working part time, eventhough they want to work full time, the data shows.Job growth in January and February was revised upward, showing that over the past12 months, private U.S. employment rose by 2.3 million, or an average of 189,000jobs per month.Average weekly hours for manufacturing production and non-supervisory workershit 42 hours in November before edging down in December, January and February,the data showed.Some of the decline in those months was likely due to unusually severe winterweather, including the major snowstorm that hit during the survey week in February.