The Bureau of Economic Analysis said that payrolls for good-producing industries declined $3.5 billion in February after posting a gain of $5.2 billion the month before. Manufacturing payrolls also dropped $1.4 billion in February, while January showed an increase of $5 billion.
According to the BEA's report, overall personal incomes in the country increased $1.2 billion during the second month of the year. That's an improvement of less than 0.1 percent when held up against January. Disposable income also went up by less than 0.1 percent.
However, the report showed that consumer spending did increase from January to February, which could be a good sign for the economy. After going up 0.4 percent in December and January, consumer spending went up 0.3 percent in February.
As people spend more, further gains may be seen in the country's gross domestic product, the bulk of which is determined by consumer spending. GDP was up 5.6 percent at an annual rate during the fourth quarter of 2009.
