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02-03-2006, 11:55 AM
as well as strong increase in factory orders (good for manufacturing) and a stronger than expected rise in average hourly income.
Employers stepped up hiring in January, boosting payrolls by 193,000 and lowering the nation's unemployment rate to 4.7 percent, the lowest since July 2001.
The fresh snapshot of the jobs climate, released by the Labor Department on Friday, suggested that the economy started the new year on fairly good footing.
Although the 193,000 gain in payroll jobs in January fell short of the 250,000 new jobs that economists said to anticipate before the release of the report, it still marked a sturdy showing and was the biggest increase in jobs since November.
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Moreover, job growth in December turned out to be stronger than previously thought. Revised figures showed payrolls expanded by 140,000 _ an improvement over the 108,000 new jobs first estimated a month ago. Employment was revised up for some previous months as well.
The unemployment rate dropped to 4.7 percent in January, from 4.9 percent in December.
In another report, the Commerce Department said that factory orders rose by 1.1 in December, a good sign that manufacturing was off to a strong start in the new year.
This improvement followed an even higher 3.3 percent gain in November and marked the third straight month where new bookings to factories went up. December's performance was in line with the 1 percent increase in factory orders that economists were forecasting before the release of the report.
For all of 2005, factory orders rose 8.1 percent. That followed a gain of 9.7 percent in 2004.
Job gains were fairly broad based, with employment growing in construction, manufacturing, professional and business services and education and health care. Those employment gains blunted job losses in retailing and government.
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Employees' average hourly earnings climbed to $16.41 in January, up 0.4 percent from December. That increase was slightly larger than the 0.3 percent rise that economists were expecting.
SOURCE (http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/02/03/D8FHN538A.html)
Employers stepped up hiring in January, boosting payrolls by 193,000 and lowering the nation's unemployment rate to 4.7 percent, the lowest since July 2001.
The fresh snapshot of the jobs climate, released by the Labor Department on Friday, suggested that the economy started the new year on fairly good footing.
Although the 193,000 gain in payroll jobs in January fell short of the 250,000 new jobs that economists said to anticipate before the release of the report, it still marked a sturdy showing and was the biggest increase in jobs since November.
__________________________________________________ ________
Moreover, job growth in December turned out to be stronger than previously thought. Revised figures showed payrolls expanded by 140,000 _ an improvement over the 108,000 new jobs first estimated a month ago. Employment was revised up for some previous months as well.
The unemployment rate dropped to 4.7 percent in January, from 4.9 percent in December.
In another report, the Commerce Department said that factory orders rose by 1.1 in December, a good sign that manufacturing was off to a strong start in the new year.
This improvement followed an even higher 3.3 percent gain in November and marked the third straight month where new bookings to factories went up. December's performance was in line with the 1 percent increase in factory orders that economists were forecasting before the release of the report.
For all of 2005, factory orders rose 8.1 percent. That followed a gain of 9.7 percent in 2004.
Job gains were fairly broad based, with employment growing in construction, manufacturing, professional and business services and education and health care. Those employment gains blunted job losses in retailing and government.
__________________________________________________ ________
Employees' average hourly earnings climbed to $16.41 in January, up 0.4 percent from December. That increase was slightly larger than the 0.3 percent rise that economists were expecting.
SOURCE (http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/02/03/D8FHN538A.html)