The economy is adding jobs at a rapid pace, the Labor Department reported on Friday, but there’s still one major holdout to the recovery: wages.

Employers increased their payrolls by 295,000 workers in February, exceeding expectations, and the unemployment rate fell to 5.5 percent, its lowest point since the spring of 2008. But wage gains continued to lag, rising only 0.1 percent in February for private-sector workers after a reported 0.5 increase in January.

That resulted in a mere 2 percent advance over a year earlier, washing away the encouraging jump in January.

Despite the disappointing wage numbers, the report prompted a new round of optimism about the economy’s comeback from the recession along with fresh talk on Wall Street that the Federal Reserve might raise interest rates at its June meeting rather than wait until September.