Date: Friday, February 3, 2012, 9:25am EST
The U.S. labor market added 243,000 jobs to nonfarm payrolls in January — the biggest jump since April and a better showing than many economists had predicted, The Wall Street Journal reports.
The jobless rate shaved off 0.2 percentage points to land at 8.3 percent, the lowest since February 2009, the U.S. Labor Department said Friday morning. Also, the department revised upward by 60,000 jobs its preliminary November and December figures.
Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had expected the jobless rate to stick at 8.5 percent and payrolls to add 125,000, The Wall Street Journal reports.
The gains were real, not because of a smaller labor force, with the number of unemployed people falling to a three-year low of 12.8 million, the report says.
On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Labor announced that the number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits in the week ended Jan. 28 fell by 12,000 from the previous week, to 367,000.
The four-week moving average was 375,750, a decline of 2,000 from the previous week’s revised average of 377,750, according to a statement.
Overall, about 3.4 million people were getting jobless benefits during the week ended Jan. 21, a decline of 130,000 from the preceding week.
The unemployment rate dropped in the Albany, New York region in the final month of 2011—the latest figure available—falling to 6.9 percent compared to 7.1 percent previous year.
The way I feel about jobs ! If the government is creating jobs in government ,this is like putting a mouse on wheel you never get any where !! No pun in intended !! GO GIANTS!
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