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BREAKING

U.S. Adds 157,000 Jobs in January, Revises Up Hiring Reports For End of 2012

Unemployment rate slightly higher at 7.9 percent

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by Lisa Fine

Staff Writer t

Image: AP

Employers added 157,000 jobs in January and 127,000 more positions at the end of 2012 than previously reported, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics announced Friday.

The unemployment rate was 7.9 percent, which is 0.1 percent higher than December. The unemployment rate has been at or near that level since September 2012. In January, the nation's job gains occurred in retail trade, construction, health care, and wholesale trade, while employment edged down in transportation and warehousing, the report said.

But the report showed hiring was stronger at the end of last year than previously thought. In December, employers increased their payrolls by 196,000 jobs, up from the agency's initial estimate of 155,000. In November, employers added 247,000 jobs, which is above the previous estimate of 161,000.

The U.S. labor market has been very resilient in recent months," Harm Bandholz, chief U.S. economist at UniCredit Group in New York, told Bloomberg News . "The big story is all the upward revisions to the previous months, which gives the report a real positive spin. All these concerns that the fiscal uncertainty deterred businesses from hiring, they certainly haven't materialized."

The jobs report came on the heels of news this week that the U.S. economy unexpectedly shrank from October through December for the first time since the recession in 2009. Hurt by the biggest cut in defense spending in 40 years, fewer exports and sluggish growth in company stockpiles, the economy contracted at an annual rate of 0.1 percent in the fourth quarter.

Via the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Bloomberg News
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Comments (view in Forum)

  • drpeeper
    !
    If we are adding more jobs. Why are we adding more people on food stamps- with record Black,Minority and female and teen unemployment rates?

    Add 157000 Jobs- lose 200000 brilliant- But hey the recovery is here !~ lol
  • drpeeper
    !
    The Bureau of Labor Statistics released jobs numbers for January Friday showing that nonfarm payroll employment increased by 157,000 and the unemployment rate rose to 7.9 percent.

    Number of people not in the labor force. 89 million, up from 80.5 million when President Obama took office.

    This means that there are currently 8.5 million more Americans not in the labor force than just four years ago.
  • GmanGSW
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    @drpeeper All I have to do is to LOL, with you! You see, otherwise I 'd cry... Btw, aren't many of those/these new jobs part time?
  • View all 13 replies >
  • stepped_in_it
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    Between the lines of this report.....approx another 50-75,000 people fell off the count due to exhaustion of their UI benefits. "Real" unemployment is somewhere above 14%(and I'm being "real" generous there).
  • Knightkore
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    "Steady hiring continues"? That's what those reporting take from this lack luster report? Headliners on the deck of the Titanic "Steady progress towards America continues despite slight decline in buoyancy".
  • Tralee
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    @Knightmare That's how the liberal left leaning main stream media spins the dismal news of higher unemployment, remember how they squealed when unemployment under Bush hit 5%?
  • o
    SomethinsFishy
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    @cleverusername You're probably right. The Romans had "Panem et Circenses" (bread and circuses) Feed the poor masses and keep them entertained. We have welfare/food stamps and basketball, football, baseball, etc. Now we are adding marihuana to the formula. But I believe "it's a good thing". If we decriminalize all drugs, we'll get rid of the Drug Cartels, and reduce firearms violence in the inner cities.
  • u
    AceLuby
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    @NTBFW Saying a lie over and over doesn't make it true. The govt can, and does, create jobs. Those people spend money in the economy, that added demand of private goods and services means that either people will need to be hired to fill that demand, or companies will be created to try to take a share of the market. Not only is the govt creating jobs directly, it does so indirectly through the demand created by the people working in the govt created job.
  • Knightkore
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    @AceLuby In order for government to create jobs they need to raise taxes....government jobs unless for the basics are essentially temporary....look at the USPS....Social Security....government jobs are unsustainable....
  • View all 55 replies >
  • Knightkore
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    The headline after the main headline is the kicker....unemployment rose still....if your pumping blood into the patient but the patient is still bleeding....the new blood won't make much of a difference until you close up the wounds....the wounds being too much spending and not enought revenue....
  • u
    AceLuby
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    Both of which are due to too few jobs... too many people on welfare and UE, not enough people paying taxes. The only way to get out of this mess is to increase employment and it's plainly obvious that the private sector can't do it.
  • Knightkore
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    @AceLuby At this point the private sector can't do it but neither can the American people afford higher taxes in order to create government jobs....
  • o
    NTBFW
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    @AceLuby the private sector could do fine if he would quit choking us to death. The biggest thing preventing hiring is Obamacare. The cheapest plan will cost $20,000 for a family of four according to the IRS.
    How can government create jobs? By hiring more government employees? Where does the money come from to pay them? Taxes. If everyone worked for the government how could you tax them enough to cover the salaries? And paying MORE taxes hurts job growth not help it. Every dollar I pay in taxes is a dollar I can't pay my employee.
  • Denizen_Kate
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    @NTBFW - "The cheapest plan will cost $20,000 for a family of four " Does that mean an individual would pay $5,000 for that plan? If so, that's quite a bit less than I'm paying now.
  • u
    tomincali
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    jobs said to go up yet unemployment not down,could it be none of these jobs are going to unemployed citizens and mostly going to new immigrants?
  • u
    Hireman
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    While having more new jobs than population is a good sign, this report hasn't shown fully what kind of jobs these are. The numbers are promising, but the devil's in the details.
  • Knightkore
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    This isn't a great report. 157,000 jobs is just keeping up with population growth so we did not go backwards but we are not getting enough people back to work to make a dent in the unemployment problem.

    President Hussein Obama is focusing of course on his "number one priorities" of immigration and gun rights. It looks like his campaign statements about the economy being the most important were hollow?
  • bsking
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    The question should read " if you think the new jobs numbers are an indication your kind of meat is improving, is it possible you had enough Kool Aid already ? "
  • u
    AceLuby
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    Another month of the private sector failing to create enough jobs. Let's see... 5 years of 'letting the market work itself out' and we're still nowhere near a healthy economy. How much longer are we going to wait for the private sector to magically 'create jobs' despite not enough demand to require it?
  • Canoochee
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    @Libertyiskey I saw a reference to the number of actually unemployed being around 35 MILLION. I haven't verified that, yet, but it matches what I have already researched.
  • Tralee
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    What's to be encouraged about? Over half the workforce has quit looking for work and that has not changed. This higher unemployment rate reflects more people out of work not more people coming back into the job market. If all those who had just quit looking were added we'd have an unemployment rate of 14% or higher. Let's see, our economy is contracting despite the fed. printing millions of dollars to pump into the economy, inflation is up, a simple whole chicken now cost twice what it did a few years ago, the "Jobs Committee" is now disbanded and never did meet since they were formed and the unemployment rate is climbing, taxes are climbing and Obamacare isn't even completely here yet and while we created approx. 150,000 jobs, twice that amount of people are out of work. Please, give me the reviled unemployment rate under George Bush, HE averaged around 5% or less for 8 years and the press was on his back the whole time for how HIGH it was and how is showed how stupid he was and that he was a failure. Hmmm, what do they say now? Crickets. As to Obamacare, only the left of America would be dumb enough to sign on for a program that they paid for for 4 years BEFORE it was implemented. How about we buy homes and cars that way, pay the payments for 4 or 5 years and THEN get the 4 or 5 yr. old car or move in to the house? Dumb of what?
  • Ashstop
    !
    Smoke and mirrors folks.. I work for Lockheed which recieved millions of dollars from our government this year to buy out anyone with 25+ yrs @$1000 per year of service to retire, still got full pension just an incentive.
    Now the government is counting the people replacing the retirees as jobs they creacted!!!!
    ( paying someone to quit a job and draw SS and hiring someone to do the same job is NOT creating a job!!)
    But it looks good on paper !
  • u
    RobertJHarsh
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    There are three types of lies: Lies, Damned Lies, and STATISTICS. And now you all know who job reports work. Now let's get back to important issues...like Top Gear starting again next week on BBC America (not that crappy Hitler channel version).
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