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The
Labor
Department
said
Friday
that the
jobless
rate
edged
down to
8.5% in
December
from a
revised
8.7% in
November.
The
unemployment
rate has
fallen
steadily
since
August,
when the
rate was
9.1%,
based on
revisions
typically
made at
the end
of the
year.
Analysts
say the
big drop
in
joblessness
in
recent
months
overstates
the
actual
improvement
in the
labor
market.
By the
government’s
definition,
people
are
unemployed
if
they're
jobless
and
looking
for
work.
Although
layoffs
at
companies
have
receded,
hiring
has
remained
generally
tepid
and many
people
have
dropped
out of
the
labor
force
altogether;
thus,
they
aren’t
counted
as among
the
unemployed.
Still,
the
December
jobs
report
was a
pleasant
surprise
to most
analysts
and good
news for
the
White
House.
The
economy
added
200,000
new net
jobs --
the most
since
last
April
and
double
the
number
added in
November.
Hours of
work in
the
private
sector
ticked
higher
last
month,
and
average
hourly
earnings
also
went up
slightly.
"This is
a really
solid
report,
a huge
step in
the
right
direction,"
said
Heidi
Shierholz,
a labor
economist
at the
Economic
Policy
Institute
in
Washington.
The
latest
jobs
report
adds to
the body
of
evidence
that the
economy
perked
up in
the
fourth
quarter,
thanks
to
strong
manufacturing
and
business
investments,
as well
as
resilient
consumer
spending.
There
were
some
caveats
in last
month's
job-growth
numbers,
however.
Although
the data
are
seasonally
adjusted,
there
was an
unusual
burst of
hiring
in
transportation
--
42,000
new
messengers
and
couriers
were
brought
on in
December
-- and
retailers
added a
larger-than-expected
28,000
positions
after
fattening
their
payrolls
by
39,000
in
November.
It's
unclear
how many
of those
positions
will
last.
The
warmer-than-usual
December
weather
also
might
have
given a
boost to
payrolls.
The
hard-hit
construction
industry
was up
17,000
jobs,
for
example.
Manufacturing,
which
has been
a bright
spot
throughout
the
sluggish
recovery,
added
23,000
jobs
behind
the
strength
of
producers
of motor
vehicles,
metals
and
machinery.
The
healthcare
industry
added
29,000
jobs, a
third of
them at
hospitals.
And
eating
and
drinking
places
boosted
staffing
by
24,000
at
year-end,
something
Mesirow
Financial’s
chief
economist,
Diane
Swonk,
attributed
to
"cash-rich
companies
[that]
ramped
up their
holiday
parties
and
entertaining
after a
hiatus
in the
wake of
the
financial
crisis."
But
hiring
at
financial
and
professional
services
was
dormant.
The
temporary-help
industry
cut
7,500
jobs in
December.
Government
shed
12,000
from its
payrolls
-- all
of that
at
public
schools
and
other
local
agencies.
These
and
other
drags in
the
economy
raise
doubts
about
whether
the
recent
momentum
can be
sustained.
Many
analysts
see only
modest
job and
economic
growth
this
year,
concerned
about
consumers'
still-high
debts
and
ability
to spend
vigorously,
the weak
housing
market
and
external
headwinds
such as
a
recession
in
Europe
that
would
hurt
American
exports.
In 2011,
job
growth
accelerated
early in
the year
but
fizzled
in
spring
as harsh
domestic
politics
and
shocks
overseas
-- the
Arab
spring,
Europe's
debt
woes and
Japan's
double
whammy
of
earthquake
and
tsunami
--
pummeled
stock
markets
and took
the wind
out of
the
economic
sails.
For all
of last
year,
the
economy
created
about
1.6
million
net new
jobs, up
from
940,000
added to
payrolls
in 2010.
Still,
total
U.S.
payrolls
are down
about
6.1
million
from
December
2007 at
the
start of
the
Great
Recession.
And last
month, a
full 2
1/2
years
after
the
recovery
technically
began,
more
than 13
million
people
remained
jobless,
and an
additional
8.1
million
part-time
workers
said
they
could
not get
full-time
hours.
Even if
the
economy
created
200,000
jobs
every
month
from now
on,
Shierholz
estimated
that it
wouldn’t
be until
2019
that the
economy
got back
to its
pre-recession
unemployment
rate of
5%,
given
the
workforce
population
increases.
"This
report
does not
allow us
to
breathe
any sigh
of
relief
for
2012,"
she
said.
Courtesy
of the
LA Times |