MUNCIE, Ind. (WOWO) – Promising news on the nation‘s unemployment front.

In fact, Ball State economist Dr. Mike Hicks calls it the “best overall employment picture since the end of the Great Recession.” The Labor Department reports that the unemployment rate for February dropped to 5.5%.

The economy added 295,000 jobs in February. That‘s even better than Hicks predicted Thursday. The jobless rate is down from the revised rate of 5.7% in January. Hicks says the latest report is now the strongest evidence of economic recovery.

He says it definitely means that employers are hiring even during the cold winter months. However, Hicks does have one concern; he says wages only rose one-tenth of a percent, virtually remaining stagnant.