The American economy added 235,000 new jobs in February, while the unemployment rate dropped slightly from 4.9 percent to 4.7 percent, according to new numbers released by the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday. Employment gains occurred in construction, private educational services, manufacturing, health care and mining, according to the bureau. The number of long-term unemployed Americans, those jobless for 27 weeks or more, was essentially unchanged at 1.8 million. The labor force participation rate also showed little change.