As Congress races to complete a jobs bill, the unemployment rate held steady at 9.7 percent in February, according to the latest numbers released by the Department of Labor on Friday.

The number of jobs lost remained largely unchanged, with 36,000 non-farm positions cut in February.

The report said the severe winter weather could have played a role in the stagnant numbers, but noted “it is not possible to quantify precisely the net impact of the winter storms on these measures.”