A Preview Of February's All-Important Jobs Report

The February jobs report will be released on Friday at 8:30 a.m. ET. Economists are expecting an increase of 235,000 jobs in February, with 225,000 of those jobs coming from private sector employment. The unemployment rate is expected to move lower to 5.6 percent. In January, the economy added 257,000 jobs –- an 11th straight month of job gains in excess of 200,000. The unemployment rate was at 5.7 percent, and the labor participation rate was 62.9 percent.