The poor employment situation has posed a quandary for the Federal Reserve, which is unwinding its monthly asset purchase program known as quantitative easing but holding to its zero interest rate policy for short-term rates.  Though the central bank has set a 6.5 percent target for the jobless number before it will consider raising rates, it likely will have to reconsider and could so as soon as its March meeting.  (Read more: 5 clues to the health of US job market)  Previous declines in the rate had been a mix of middling job creation and labor force participation that has languished around 35-year lows. At the same time, long-term unemployment remains a major structural impediment, making the Fed's final decision on interest rates likely more reliant on an arbitrary qualitative impression of economic health.  Indeed, the number of people without jobs for 27 weeks or longer grew 203,000 to 3.8 million—a group that now represents fully 37 percent of the unemployed.  (Read more: Jobless rate to dip below 6% in 2014: Fed's Bullard)  Weather had been blamed for weakness in December and January, though there was considerable debate over the validity of that argument. However, the number not working due to weather rose to 601,000 for the month, the highest rate since 2010.  "If the economy managed to generate 175,000 new jobs in a month when the weather was so severe, once the weather returns to seasonal norms payrolls employment growth is likely to accelerate further," Paul Dales, senior U.S. economist at Capital Economics, said in a note.  Dales said the February job growth "pretty much guarantees" the Fed will continue to reduce QE, which is at $65 billion a month after consecutive reductions of $10 billion at the past two meetings.  Biggest job gains in February came from professional and business services, which added 79,000 positions. Temporary help grew by 24,000.  Health care was flat for the third consecutive month as the government continues its implementation of the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare.  Wholesale trade gained 15,000 jobs, bars and restaurants contributed 21,000 and construction added 15,000.  Retail lost 4,000 jobs for the month while government employment was little changed. However, electronics and appliances lost 12,000, "the first sign of the impact of mass retail store closures across the country," said Brian Sozzi, CEO and chief equities strategist at Belus Capital Advisors.  Wage pressure, absent through most of the post-recession jobs picture, showed up in February, with an increase of 9 cents an hour to $24.31. The average work week, though, edged lower to 34.2 hours.  —By CNBC's Jeff Cox. Follow him on Twitter @JeffCoxCNBCcom.
Job creation accelerated in February, posting a better-than-expected gain of 175,000 despite expectations that weather would keep the count low.