By Courtney Schlisserman Feb. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Confidence among U.S. consumers unexpectedly fell in February from a two-year high, signaling Americans may not be convinced the job market is turning around. The Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary consumer sentiment index dropped to 73.7 from January’s 74.4. The measure averaged 88.9 during the economic expansion that ended in December 2007. Employment unexpectedly dropped in January, while an increase in the workweek and a rise in incomes signaled companies were on the verge of boosting payrolls after growth picked up last quarter. The Obama administration yesterday projected employment will grow by 95,000 a month on average this year, indicating it will take a long time to recover the 8.4 million jobs since the recession began. “Even though the economy’s grown now for eight consecutive months people definitely are not feeling any better,” Michael Englund, chief economist at Action Economics LLC in Boulder, Colorado, said before the report. Consumers are “focused on caution rather than spending.” To contact the reporter on this story: Courtney Schlisserman in Washington cschlisserma@bloomberg.net

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