After two months of reporting weak job growth, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday that, seasonally adjusted, 162,000 new private jobs were created in February. Government at all levels hired 13,000. The official unemployment rate—which BLS calls U3 and calculates in a separate survey—rose to 6.7 percent.
The bureau revised its previously reported results for December from 75,000 to 84,000, and in January from 113,000 to 129,000. That brought the three-month average to 129,000. At that rate, it would take until September 2023 to return us to the pre-recession employment situation while absorbing the people who enter the labor force each month. At 175,000 a month, it would take until January 2020.
In the previous three years (2011-2013), seasonally adjusted job growth for the December-January period averaged a monthly 103,000, 261,000 and 230,000 respectively.
A surprisingly strong jobs report for February sparked renewed faith in the economic recovery despite looming federal spending cuts and the recent increase in payroll taxes and gasoline prices.
Unemployment fell to 7.7 percent last month, from 7.9 percent in January.
It was the lowest rate of joblessness since December 2008, when the financial crisis and recession first pushed unemployment above 7 percent.
February produced 236,000 more jobs than were lost, the report said, higher than many optimistic forecasts had expected.
Much of the increase came in key areas such as construction work, which posted its best hiring in six years in part thanks to a recovery in housing activity.
Ever wonder why Mitt Romney is so hesitant to do the right thing and release his tax returns? Well maybe the reason has something to do with his tax rate – a rate the Republican frontrunner admits is “probably” less than 15%.
Meanwhile, middle class America pays a rate of 38%.
GOP presidential front-runner Mitt Romney on Tuesday said he probably pays a tax rate of about 15 percent.
Romney, who has come under pressure from Republicans and Democrats alike to release his tax forms, said most of his income is in long-term capital gains, which is hit with a 15 percent rate.
“It’s probably closer to the 15 percent rate than anything, because my last 10 years, I’ve — my income comes overwhelmingly from investments made in the past, rather than ordinary income, or rather than earned annual income,” Romney said during a press conference in Florence, S.C. “I get a little bit of income from my book but I gave that all away. And then I get speakers’ fees from time to time but not very much.”
More news for the United States economy, as the national unemployment rate falls to 8.5%. Although the pace of job growth may not be as fast as many would like, any improvement is always a welcome sign that things are headed in a positive direction.
The New York Times: The United States added a robust 200,000 new jobs last month, the Labor Department said Friday, in a sign that the long-awaited economic recovery has finally built up a head of steam.
The nation’s unemployment rate fell to 8.5 percent in December, from a revised 8.7 percent in November, the government said. The Labor Department revised the number of new jobs added in November to 100,000, from 120,000.
The employment report built on a flurry of heartening economic news in December, when consumer confidence rose, manufacturing came in strong and small businesses showed signs of life. It was the sixth consecutive month that the economy added at least 100,000 jobs – not enough to restore employment to pre-recession levels, but enough, perhaps, to cheer President Obama as he enters an election year.
The upward trend restored some of the ground lost this spring and summer, when global events like the earthquake in Japan and domestic ones like the debt ceiling debate slowed the American recovery to a crawl and raised fears of a second recession. Then, even signs of modest growth were dismissed as too anemic. Now, they are drawing tentative praise.
It’s the news no one has heard over the last 2 and a half years – unemployment is at 8.6%. With all the anti-economy, anti-middle class antics of the Republican party, and their obvious efforts to make things worse for the American people, this is welcome news for all true patriots.
Nonfarm payrolls increased by 120,000 jobs last month, the Labor Department said on Friday, and the jobless rate dropped to 8.6 percent, the lowest since March 2009, from 9.0 percent in October.
It was the biggest monthly decline since January. While part of the decrease was due to people leaving the labor force, the household survey from which the department calculates the unemployment rate also showed solid gains in employment.
“The economy is continuing to head in the right direction,” said Millan Mulraine, senior macro strategist at TD Securities in New York. “However, the ultimate test of the sustainability of the recovery is for the economy to create a sufficient number of jobs to sustain a consumer-led rebound in activity.”
“On this measure, this report falls short,” he said.
Although the gain in the number of jobs created as measured by the survey of employers was relatively modest, it marked a pickup from October’s upwardly revised 100,000 increase.
In all, 72,000 more jobs were created in October and September than previously reported.
Of course, Republicans must come up with a way to try to damper this good news. They must remove any feeling of optimism the American people might have about the economy, and who is better at casting doubt about our economic recovery than Eric Cantor.
After the new unemployment data was released, Cantor, surrounded by his Republican allies, stepped to the podium to deliver their warning – there just aren’t enough jobs in America.
Maybe if Cantor and his Republican friends concentrated more on the American people, instead of the top 1%, there will be enough jobs for anyone looking for work.
But working for the American people is not the priority.
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