February’s Jobless Rate Holds at 5.3% : Economy: Unemployment remained steady for the ninth month despite the biggest increase in jobs in 20 months.

The nation’s unemployment rate in February held steady at 5.3% for the ninth consecutive month despite the biggest increase in jobs in 20 months, the government said today.

California’s rate was 4.9%, down from 5.2% in January.

Nationwide, the Labor Department said a survey of employers showed a seasonally-adjusted, non-farm job gain of 372,000, the largest since June, 1988. And the department revised its figure for January to a gain of 332,000, up from an earlier estimate of 275,000.

February marked the first increase in factory jobs in 11 months. Manufacturing payrolls added 90,000 workers.

“This is good news on the jobs front,” said Michael Boskin, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers. “We believe the economy, after a period of pretty slow growth, is likely to show progress (in) 1990.”

The Labor Department cautioned that the job gain was heavily influenced by temporary factors and probably overstates the underlying strength of the economy.

About all of the manufacturing increase was attributed to the return of auto workers after a temporary layoff in January. Factory employment elsewhere was lackluster.

Construction payrolls swelled by 60,000 jobs, the result of unusually mild weather for most of February.

“It is possible, however, that the higher-than-usual activity in the beginning months of the year could result in fewer new hires during the traditional spring construction buildup,” Labor Statistics Commissioner Janet L. Norwood warned the Joint Economic Committee of Congress.

The unemployment rate for auto workers, which had zoomed to 20% in January, fell back to 8% last month.

Overall, total civilian employment edged up to 118 million. The jobless numbered 6.6 million, about the same as January.

The service sector of the economy added 221,00 jobs, including a gain of 47,000 for health services, 28,000 in government, 17,000 in retail trade and 15,000 in finance real estate and insurance.

Norwood said government payrolls were bolstered in January and February by the addition of about 20,000 census workers. Several hundred thousand additional workers will be added in the next few months, she said.

Average hourly earnings posted a 0.6% rise in February to $9.87, up from $9.52 a year earlier.

Over the rest of this year, many economists forecast a rise in unemployment, but not a big one. The consensus of 51 economists surveyed by the Sedona, Ariz.-based Blue Chip Economic Indicators was for a 5.6% rate this year.

That is a shade less optimistic than the Bush Administration, which expects a 5.4% rate.