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On Friday the Labor Department reported 295,000 jobs were created in February, dropping the nation’s unemployment rate to 5.5%, the lowest level since mid-2008.

The Washington Post reported for 12 months in a row, the United States has added at least 200,000 jobs — a sustained pace of hiring unmatched since 1994 and 1995. The net job growth in February was above market expectations, despite a frigid winter in the Northeast.

The Administration commented the report issued by the Labor Department showed the U.S. economy is growing and creating the best job growth since the 1990’s.

“With another strong employment report, we have now seen 12 straight months of private-sector job gains above 200,000 — the first time that has happened since 1977,” said Jason Furman, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, in a blog post. “Moreover, 2014 was the best year for job growth since the late 1990s, and 2015 has continued at this pace.”

As there were certainly positive news in the report there is also areas of concerns. First the Labor Department reported, the civilian labor force participation rate, at 62.8 percent, changed little in February and has remained within a narrow range of 62.7 to 62.9 percent since April 2014. The employment-population ratio was unchanged at 59.3 percent in February but is up by 0.5 percentage point over the year.

The second aspect of the report is that the number of part-time workers stayed the same, as these are classifies as wanting full time employment but could only obtain part-time work.

A couple of troubling statistics in the report was “The civilian labor force participation rate, at 62.8 percent, changed little in February and has remained within the narrow range of 62.7 to 62.9 percent since April 2014,” the BLS said in its release on the February employment data.

Retail and service sector position created the most jobs, with manufacturing losing 7,000 jobs, but the biggest area of concern, one that most Americans are know all too well, stagnate wage growth.

The report highlighted the fact in February, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 3 cents to $24.78. Over the year, average hourly earnings have risen by 2.0 percent. In February, average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees were unchanged at $20.80.

Republicans welcomed the job growth but took aim at the president for failing to pass the Keystone XL pipeline and the president’s tax policy as hindering further expansion of the U.S. economy.

“While it is welcome news that more Americans found work last month, middle-class families continue to be left behind by the president’s policies,” House Speaker John Boehner said. “By vetoing the Keystone pipeline, the president put his political agenda ahead of the more than 42,000 workers who would have a shot at a good-paying job.”

With the release of the unemployment report Wall Street reacted with a sharp retraction as many fearing the Federal Reserve will begin to raise interest rates.

Bloomberg News reported that one of the biggest questions right now in markets and economics is: When will the Fed finally raise interest rates? Rates have been near zero since the financial crisis, but it looks like we’re getting closer to liftoff. Some people think the Fed will raise rates in June. Others think the first hike will come later in the year. And some don’t think we’ll get a rate hike until 2016. Ultimately, the Fed will hike when it feels confident that the economy is on a strong footing and that inflation is likely to trend higher.

The bottom line is that today’s strong jobs report increases the pressure on the Fed to hike sooner.

We will just have to wait and see how the economy grows in the months ahead.