Tag: economy created jobs

ECONOMIC NEWS

Economy Created 243,000 Jobs In January; Unemployment Drops To 8.3 Percent.

 

The CBS Evening News (2/3, lead story, 3:45, Pelley) reported on “a big improvement in the unemployment picture. The Labor Department reported today that the jobless rate in January fell 0.2% to 8.3%, the lowest in three years. And the economy created 243,000 jobs. That’s a lot more than economists or Wall Street were expecting.”

NBC Nightly News (2/3, story 2, 2:20, Holt) reported, “The jobs report for January out this morning blew past everyone’s expectations. … Wall Street responded with a surge of its own, the Dow up 156 points to its highest close since May 2008 before the economic meltdown, and Nasdaq hit an 11-year high.”

The AP (2/3) reported, “In the most impressive surge for the job market since early last year, the United States added 243,000 jobs in January, far more than economists expected. … Hiring accelerated across the economy and up and down the pay scale. The high-salary professional services industry added 70,000 jobs, the most in 10 months. Manufacturing added 50,000, the most in a year.”

Bloomberg News (2/4, Willis, Miller) reported that the “labor market recovery is broadening as industries from construction to retail to manufacturing added workers in January.”

The New York Times (2/4, Rich, Subscription Publication) reported, “Measured by both the unemployment rate and the number of jobless — which fell to 12.8 million — it was the strongest signal yet that an economic recovery was spreading to the jobs market.”

The Washington Post (2/4, Whoriskey) reported the President “seized on the numbers as proof that the nation’s economic recovery ‘is speeding up.'”

The Wall Street Journal (2/4, Dougherty, Subscription Publication) reported job growth was at its fastest rate since April 2011, and unemployment was down for the fifth consecutive month.

The Los Angeles Times (2/4, Lee) reported, “Some economists called the latest employment report a game-changer that signaled better times ahead for American workers,” but “many others were cautious in their assessment, noting that job growth was inflated by the unseasonably warm weather — construction reported sizable gains, for instance — and that the outlook remains constrained by government budget cuts, financially strapped consumers and a slowing global economy.”

From SME Daily Executive Briefing 2/6/2012