Employment Rates Increase As New Jobs Are Added

The number of jobs created during the month of January has been quite pleasant as the economy in the United States has generated 243,000 positions and the unemployment rate has dropped down to 8.3 percent. This information was provided by government data that was released on Friday. These numbers were a lot better than expected, as the expected amount of job growth for the month was at about 150,000 jobs and the unemployment rate for the month was estimated to be at about 8.5 percent.

A chief economic strategist for Miller Tabak, Andrew Wilkinson, has said, “What’s not to like about the report?” He also says, “Not only did payrolls exceed forecasts…but between the November and December revisions employers added 160,000 more jobs than first thought.” In its entirety, the work week remained steady with about 34.5 hours. However, the wages rose about four cents per hour, reaching $23.29.

While good has come out of this, the downside is that some individuals were only working part-time due to the economy and the availability of jobs. The number of people who worked part-time because of economic reasons had increased by 1.2 percent.

The January numbers may change after the Bureau of Labor Statistics does its regular seasonal adjustments. Neil Dutta, an economist for Bank of America Merrill Lynch, has said, “Looking beyond these statistical quirks, watching the unemployment rate drop five months in a row is rare event, and our expectation is that the unemployment rate rises in the immediate-term.”

When it came down to job growth, there were certain sectors that did particularly well, including the service sector which includes retail and food and beverage. The healthcare sector, manufacturing sector, and warehousing sector have all contributed to the job growth in the United States as well.

Services jobs were responsible for adding on 162,000 jobs during the month of January, as manufacturing added on 50,000 new positions during the same month. The government sector, however, made cuts and lost about 14,000 jobs. Alan Kreuger, the chairman of Economic Advisors for President Obama, has said, “The pattern is definitely indicating the economy is improving.” However, as the presidential campaigns are nearing, many Republicans have argued that the economy still needs a lot of work and recovery.

The Republican National Committee Chairman, Reince Priebus, said, “Our economy remains unacceptably weak, and families across the country are still struggling to make ends meet.” Priebus believes that a lot more progress needs to be made in order for the economy to full recover from the crippling recession. However, the unemployment rate has fallen under 13 million, which is something it has not done since February of 2009 which shows that progress is being made and more progress is expected to be made.