Consumer spending edged up for a second consecutive month in February, according to a government report on Friday.

While the inflation-adjusted figure was down slightly, the report was taken as good news, although economists caution that continuing job losses are likely to weaken consumer spending in the future.

“Since consumer spending makes up 70 percent of the economy, some of the dire forecasts for economic growth in the first quarter may not be true,” said John Ryding, chief economist at RDQ Economics, a research business. Still, he said, “declining payrolls for the first two months of this quarter and initial jobless claims provide no evidence that the contraction in the economy is slowing.”

Consumer spending rose at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 0.2 percent in February, in line with expectations. In inflation-adjusted numbers, spending was down 0.2 percent, in contrast to a 0.7 percent increase in January. Economists say that spending in the first quarter has benefited from government transfer payments and a comparison to the especially gruesome numbers at the end of 2008.