por admin » Vie Feb 03, 2012 8:06 am
Economy Adds 243,000 Jobs
By JOSH MITCHELL And JEFFREY SPARSHOTT
WASHINGTON—The U.S. labor market grew in January at its most robust pace since last spring, a sign that the economy's momentum carried into the new year.
Nonfarm payrolls rose by 243,000 last month, the Labor Department said Friday, marking the biggest gain since April. The jobless rate fell by two-tenths of a point to 8.3%, the lowest it has been since February 2009.
Both figures contradicted expectations of a slowdown in job growth to start the year. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had forecast a gain of 125,000 in payrolls and that the jobless rate would remain at 8.5%.
The report also indicated that job growth was stronger in previous months than initially reported, with the economy gaining 60,000 jobs beyond the government's preliminary figures for November and December.
The latest drop in the jobless rate, which is obtained from a separate household survey was largely because of genuine job growth rather than a reduction in the labor force, the report showed. The number of unemployed people fell to 12.8 million, a three-year low, and the jobless rate has fallen from 9.1% since August.
The recent gains in the labor market reflect increasing confidence among private companies, which again fueled the job growth. The private sector added 257,000 jobs, offsetting the 14,000 in job cuts by the public sector—namely, federal and local governments.
Still, unemployment remains historically high, and broad uncertainty, mainly because of the crisis in Europe, poses challenges to the U.S. recovery in the months ahead.
In a positive sign for working Americans, average hourly earnings ticked up four cents, or 0.2%, to $23.29. Still, wages were only up 1.9% year over year, not enough to keep up with inflation.
The gains were across a variety of sectors. The professional-business-services industry added 70,000 jobs, helped by a rise in temporary workers. Manufacturing employment continued to increase, adding 50,000 jobs.
The resurgent auto industry has been a strong source of job growth. Detroit's Chrysler Group LLC, for one, announced this week that it would add 1,800 jobs at an Illinois plant this year.
A broader measure of unemployment—which includes job seekers as well as those in part-time jobs—ticked down a tenth of a point to 15.1%.
Beyond the January data, the Labor Department made a revision to its annual benchmark of nonfarm payrolls, adjusting the March 2011 benchmark upward by a seasonally adjusted 165,000.