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U.S. Non-Farm Payrolls: Clear Signs of Improvement by: Zacks.com February 05, 2010 While the number of jobs lost was relatively greater than expected, the overall unemployment rate came down to under 10%. There are other positives in today’s report as well, particularly with respect to revisions, temporary hirings and length of work week. The Labor Department reported today that the U.S. economy shed 20,000 jobs last month, weaker than the expected 5,000 gain for the month. Importantly, the unemployment rate fell to 9.7% from 10% last month. The expectation was for the unemployment rate to inch up to 10.1%. Signs...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. employers cut a deeper-than-expected 263,000 jobs in September, lifting the unemployment rate to 9.8 percent, according to a government report on Friday that fueled fears the weak labor market could undermine recovery from a prolonged recession. The Labor Department said the unemployment rate was the highest since June 1983 and payrolls had now dropped for 21 consecutive months. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected non-farm payrolls to drop 180,000 in September and the unemployment rate to rise to 9.8 percent from 9.7 percent the prior month. The poll was conducted before reports, including regional manufacturing surveys,...

We are in a recession and our President has done something about it. What has he done? Spent well over a trillion dollars of other people's money, all borrowed. How well is that working now and how well have such "fixes" worked in the past? There is no real indication that our current recession is ending. The NBER dated the beginning of this recession based almost entirely on payrolls, which last peaked in December 2007. Payrolls have declined every single month since then, including the most recent month, July 2009. In July, payrolls declined by 247,000 jobs. That has been...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The nation's unemployment rate jumped to 8.5 percent in March, the highest since late 1983, as a wide range of employers eliminated a net total of 663,000 jobs. The Labor Department's report is fresh evidence of the toll the recession has inflicted on America's workers and companies. Most economists expect the job cuts will continue for much of this year. The latest tally of job losses, released Friday, was slightly higher than the 654,000 that economists expected. The rise in the unemployment rate matched expectations. Since the recession began in December 2007, the economy has lost a...

Somewhere around 2002 the amount of money governments in the United States pay out to employees surpassed the amount of money paid to manufacturing and construction workers: [go to post for graph] It would be easy to level a broadside at the Bush Administration, as they were in charge at the time, but one can easily see from the graph that the trend in government payrolls has been on a nearly straight-line march since 1969. Only during the Reagan Administration (1980-1986) was there a sustained decline and control on the expansion of government. If anyone wonders...

U.S. payrolls jumped last month and the jobless rate fell, boosting the odds of moderate, consumer-driven economic growth and lowering the chances of any near-term reduction in official interest rates. Outside of manufacturing, payroll gains were broadly based, with construction and services posting healthy increases. Previous months' employment increases, meanwhile, were revised up. Nonfarm payrolls increased 180,000 in March, up from a revised 113,000 in February and 162,000 in January, the Labor Department said Friday. Those months were previously reported as increases of 97,000 and 146,000, respectively. The unemployment rate fell 0.1 percentage point to 4.4% last month, matching its...

Payrolls Expand in Oct.; Jobless Rate Dips Nov 4, 10:24 AM (ET) By JEANNINE AVERSA WASHINGTON (AP) - America's payrolls grew by a rather tepid 56,000 in October, a sign that the nation's job market is slowly regaining its footing after the beating administered to the Gulf Coast area by Hurricane Katrina. The unemployment rate dipped to 5 percent of the labor force. The latest snapshot released by the Labor Department on Friday offered fresh insights into the impact of Katrina, the most costly natural disaster in U.S. history. Importantly, job losses in September turned out to be just 8,000,...

In July 207,000 jobs were created, above expectations, and the unemployment rate held steady at 5.0% Upward revisions for May and June as well.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Look for U.S. stocks to drift higher this week as optimism about the economy and earnings continues. But key data on the employment picture, auto and retail sales could trip up the market's momentum. The week is likely to get off to a slow start as investors return from a long holiday weekend. U.S. stock, bond and oil markets will be closed for the Memorial Day holiday on Monday. But activity will likely pick up when a slew of economic data hits traders' screens. Strategists thought the market's mood was improving going into June. "I would...

April nonfarm payrolls up better than expected to 274,000. March figures revised up from 110,000 to 146,000. April average hourly earnings highest on record and were up 0.3%

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. employers created 262,000 jobs last month, the biggest gain in four months and double January's pace, as auto workers returned from temporary layoffs and construction activity snapped back from a cold January, the government said on Friday.The unemployment rate, however, rose to 5.4 percent from January's 5.2 percent, but the gain partly reflected an increase in workers entering the labor force, the Labor Department said.The median forecast of Wall Street economists polled a week ago was for a nonfarm payroll gain of 220,000 jobs, but on Thursday a big jump in a measure of service-sector employment...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The pace of U.S. worker productivity growth slowed at the end of 2004 and claims for jobless aid dipped last week, according to reports raising both job-growth hopes and inflation concerns. Separate reports on Thursday tempered the optimism as growth in the huge U.S. services sector cooled a bit last month while factory orders rose a mere 0.3 percent in December. Nonfarm business productivity, or worker output per hour, grew at an annual rate of just 0.8 percent in the fourth quarter, falling from the third quarter's 1.8 percent rate and the smallest advance since a drop...

96,000 jobs were created in September. The unemployment rate held steady at 5.4% Upward revisions Details to come...

I feel a conspiracy is going on the 1st debate, I also think some Democrat business owners have intentionally not hired or layed off people to hurt Bush. Paul Bremer, Charles Duelfler, David Kay, Don Rumsfeld have tried to damage Bush this week. John Challenger says September was a bad month for hiring, in the 25,000 range. Kerry is being handed this election on a silver platter, how ironic that WMD Report and bad jobs report come out within 48 hours of debate.

jobs were created in August. The unemployment rate edgged down at 5.4% Upward revisions Details to come...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rallied on Thursday after a fast retreat in the oil price helped boost confidence among investors, while retailers, such as Best Buy Co. Inc. (BBY.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Gap Inc (GPS.N: Quote, Profile, Research) , lent support. The stock market was cheered as several retailers beat sales expectations or raised forecasts, pushing up the Standard & Poor's retailing index 2.4 percent. An easing in the oil price also helped sentiment. Crude for October delivery ended up just 5 cents at $44.05 a barrel after gains of more than a dollar earlier pushed it...

The headlines are bad for Bush, the numbers no one pays attention to are fine.THERE WAS A FLOOD of economic data last week--and of political commentary on the data--and John Kerry had it all his way. The economy created surprisingly few jobs--a mere 32,000, 10 percent of the number Bush had been hoping for--in July. To add to the president's discomfort, the already low job-creation figures for May and June were revised downwards by about 50,000. This wounds Bush in key swing states such as Wisconsin and Ohio. And not only there. All over America, even those working will now...

32,000 jobs were created in July. The unemployment rate down at 5.5% Details to come... ouch

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. employers added an unexpectedly large 248,000 jobs in May, according to a government report on Friday that confirmed a strengthening economy likely to soon usher in higher interest rates.

288,000 jobs were created in April. The unemployment rate down at 5.6% Details to come...