America notches best run of job growth since 2006 February saw 227,000 Americans find work, the Labor Department said on Friday, sending the total number of jobs created in the last six months to just over 1.2m. That's the best run since the first half of 2006, when the country's house prices were nearing the peak of their bubble. "Businesses have clearly become more optimistic about the economic outlook since the summer of 2011," said Kevin Logan, chief US economist at HSBC. Since hitting 9.1pc last August, America's unemployment rate has dropped sharply to 8.3pc. It was unchanged at that rate last month as signs companies are hiring persuaded some who had given up looking for work to start again. The labour participation rate, a measure of those people in work or classified as officially looking for work, climbed to 63.9pc from 63.7pc in January. The need for the recovery to emerge from the stop-start pattern that has defined it is becoming more urgent because at the end of the year tax cuts are due to expire and spending cuts take hold, handing the US its first dose of austerity since the financial crisis. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke warned last week that Congress should act to avoid the economy falling over a "fiscal cliff." The 6,000 jobs that the federal government eliminated last month were the only shadow over a report that saw most other parts of the economy add employees. Companies hired 233,000 in total, with the services sector accounting for the majority of them. Evidence that the jobs market is thawing has been central to the recent renewed optimism that the US economy will better the 1.7pc expansion it managed last year. Despite the improvement there remains scepticism among economists that the unemployment rate will drop much further this year, with much of the concern focused on the squeeze on US incomes. Average earnings last month edged up just 0.1pc to $23.31, according to the report, suggesting that increased appetite for hiring has yet to translate into broad wage gains. Figures last week showed that once adjusted for inflation, US incomes fell 0.1pc in January. "While the labour market continues on its gradual healing path, we are not yet ready to signal the all clear path," said Neil Dutta, an economist at Bank of America. It's a view that most expect to be echoed by Mr Bernanke when the minutes of the latest meeting of the central bank's rate-setting committee are released next week. The Fed chairman has emphasized the headwinds still facing the recovery, though the recent run of data may persude some members of the Federal Open Market Committee that monetary policy may need to change sooner than expected. Friday's report also showed that a broader measure of underemployment, which includes those are are having to settle for part-time work, remained close to 15pc last month. Meanwhile, the proportion of the unemployed who have been out of work for at least six months was little changed at 42.6pc.