Although the national payrolls expanded over all by a moderate 166,000, about what analysts expected, the gain was significantly exaggerated by special factors.

Many of those jobs have gone to the maquiladoras, whose payrolls have expanded by 300,000 in two years, to more than 800,000.

The job market improved further in February as payrolls expanded and the unemployment rate eased to 6.5 percent, the Government reported today.

He padded the payroll with his political cronies, expanded the activities of government, and called for city ownership of all utilities.

But payrolls expanded by just 69,000 jobs, a fraction of the roughly 200,000 that had been expected by forecasters.

Expectations were that payrolls expanded by perhaps 150,000 while the unemployment rate remained close to May's 6.9 percent.

While payrolls expanded by 339,000, much more than was generally expected, many economists described the overall job market as only modestly tighter than in January.

The December employment report surprised many economists because it showed that payrolls actually expanded last month; many had expected them to shrink.

And, yes, payrolls expanded by just 62,000, a third what was expected.

Although payrolls expanded by 177,000 jobs, the big jump in the labor force pushed the unemployment rate up a tenth of a point, to 6.8 percent.