Nonfarm payroll employment rose 227,000 in February, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 8.3 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported this morning. Payroll jobs increased in professional and business services, health care and social assistance, leisure and hospitality, manufacturing, and mining. The number of unemployed persons, at 12.8 million, was essentially unchanged in February. At 8.3 percent, the unemployment rate remains 0.8 percentage point below the August 2011 rate.