The unemployment rate in the U.S. dropped from 5.8 percent in December 2015 to 4.5 percent in February 2016.
It has been rising since then, with the unemployment rate reaching 6.1 percent in August 2016 and 7.1% in January 2017.
The latest jobs report, released on Friday, shows the economy has been adding jobs at a steady clip, with a net gain of 185,000 jobs in February.
But that growth has slowed in recent months.
That slowdown was largely caused by a sharp slowdown in the manufacturing sector, which has been a huge driver of job creation.
The manufacturing sector is responsible for about 80 percent of the job gains.
But in February, the manufacturing industry saw a sharp drop in new job creation, with new job openings falling from 7,000 in January to 5,000.
The decline in new jobs in the new month may not be as dramatic as it was in January, when the manufacturing job gain was about 5,600.
But it’s still an improvement.
The drop in manufacturing jobs was also partially offset by a surge in new workers in the services sector.
In the month that followed the manufacturing jump, the unemployment rates for workers in all occupations fell slightly, although the labor force participation rate remained unchanged.
The labor force survey also showed that job growth has picked up in some industries, such as manufacturing.
The unemployment rates were at 5.4 percent for women, 5.2 percent for men and 4.7 percent for people ages 25 to 54.
The overall unemployment rate, which excludes people who said they were underemployed, fell to 6.3 percent from 6.5 in January.
The report also showed some signs that the labor market may be beginning to recover from a recession in the second quarter of last year.
The Labor Department said on Friday that job gains in January were the best in nearly a year.
Overall job growth in the first half of this year is the best since February 2008, when it was 8.6 percent, according to the report.
The economy added 178,000 private-sector jobs, an increase of 6,000 from December, the Labor Department reported.
