Unemployment Down To 9%

This still won’t make conservatives happy, nor is it an indication we’re out of the woods, but at least it’s going in the right direction, with some caveats.

…the nation’s unemployment rate fell dramatically for the second month in a row. It dropped to 9% in January, from 9.4% in December and 9.8% in November.

But as in December, the official unemployment rate dropped in part because many more workers left the labor market — an indication that many people aren’t finding opportunities or don’t believe there’s a job for them in the current economy.

There are some hopeful signs.

Manufacturing payrolls were up 49,000 over the month, and retail employers added 27,500 jobs. Construction, government, financial services, transportation and the temporary-help sector shed jobs in January.

Government officials also revised higher the job growth at the end of last year. And that shows an improving trend in hiring, although still not at a very rapid pace. In the fourth quarter, the private sector added an average of 153,000 jobs a month, up from 124,000 in the third quarter.

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.