The U.S. added 24,400 temporary employment services jobs in February, according to seasonally adjusted data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. And the temporary penetration rate — temporary help jobs divided by total nonfarm employment — rose to 2.03 percent in February from 2.02 in January.

February’s temp penetration rate matches a peak of 2.03 percent set in April 2000 at the height of the dot-com boom. However, the penetration rate reached 2.06 in December before being revised downward for the following month.

On a year-over-year basis, temporary employer services added 227,700 jobs, an 8.9 percent increase.

Total nonfarm employment rose by 175,000 jobs in February to a total of approximately 137.7 million. MarketWatch reports the figures suggest the economy has not slowed as much as a recent batch of indicators appear to show.

The U.S. unemployment rate edged up to 6.7 percent in February from 6.6 percent in January.

The college-level unemployment rate rose to 3.4 percent in February from 3.2 percent in January. College-level unemployment can serve as a proxy for professional employment.

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