The US economy added significantly more jobs than expected in February, but wages continued to stagnate, highlighting the dilemma facing the Federal Reserve over when next to raise rates. Friday’s jobs report, which saw 242,000 more positions created in February, indicated the world’s most important economy was continuing its recovery even amid rising concerns about global growth. The unemployment rate remained at 4.9 per cent. But a 0.1 per cent fall in average hourly earnings in February also highlighted one of the main worries facing the US economy: that many Americans are still failing to see the benefits of the recovery and growing increasingly frustrated about it, a concern that is having an impact on the political debate and this year’s presidential campaign. The slowdown in hourly wages — they were up 2.2 per cent on a year ago — is also likely to weigh on Fed policymakers when they gather this month to consider their next move on monetary policy after raising rates for the first time in almost a decade in December. Economists said the strong jobs growth meant any fears of a US recession should be put to rest and that the weak wages data also meant concerns about a bounce in inflation above the Fed’s 2 per cent target rate were premature.