JANUARY EMPLOYMENT RESULTS
By: Hope Wilkos, Writer/Blogger Photographer: George Whylie Videographer: Maxine NolanJust days after President Obama gave his State of the Union address, the January Employment Update has just been released.
The economy is continuing to head towards recovery at a slow but even pace. It was noted that the payroll tax cut needs to be extended as well as the continuation of emergency unemployment benefits through the end of 2012. President Obama proposed additional steps to create an economy built to last during his State of the Union address.
The unemployment rate fell 0.2 percentage points to 8.3 from 10% in October 2009. The drop during the month is due to employment growth. The labor force participation rate remained constant once you take new population weights into account. Private sector payrolls increased by 257,000 jobs and overall payroll employment rose by 243,000 jobs in January. Private sector jobs have been added for 23 straight months now, for a total of 3.7 million payroll jobs over that period. In the last 12 months, 2.2 million private sector jobs were added on the net.
In December, professional and business service jobs increased by 70,000, manufacturing industry increased by 50,000, leisure and hospitality by 44,000, health care and social assistance industries by 29,700 and construction jobs by 21,000. Government jobs decreased by 14,000 jobs.
This is an encouraging trend but there is still work to be accomplished on an ongoing basis. We still have to continue to give Americans job opportunities especially now that our service veterans are back home.
Comments are closed.