Current.com Blog | February 03, 2012 | 3 comments

From the Community: Unemployment rate drops - the lowest since February 2009

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January jobs report: Hiring ramps up, unemployment falls - Feb. 3, 2012
Submitted by kennymotown

The Labor Department reported that more American employers hired in January, bringing the unemployment rate down to 8.3% - the lowest since February 2009. Employers added 243,000 jobs in January across several sectors.

The manufacturing sector -- a focal point of President Obama's latest jobs speeches -- added 50,000 jobs in January. Manufacturing has accounted for 14% of the job gains in the last 13 months.

Professional and business services added 70,000 jobs, and education and health services added 36,000 jobs.

But the government has also been bleeding jobs since the middle of 2010, and continued to do so last month. Most of the recent job losses have been at the state and local level. Overall, the public sector cut 14,000 jobs in January.

The unemployment rate is obviously a highly politicized number. While gradual improvement in the job market may strengthen President Obama's position, major weakness still remains.

The encouraging news of the unemployement rate has our community buzzing:

Mitekillem1: "Funny how the unemployment always seems to decrease on election years."

circlesquared: "I find this hard to believe. Florida is a dead zone for employment...even the tourism industry is shrinking fast although inland Disney is still doing great."

Truthitswhatsfordinner: "The govt has changed the way it calculates the statistic. There is no decrease in unemployment. If the old measure was used, unemployment stands at 10%."

JanforGore: "Really? For what? McDonalds? Fracking companies? There are no jobs where I live and I am not exaggerating. I really begin to wonder what "kind" of jobs are being "created" to pump up these reports regardless of the party in power."

Join the discussion -- or head over to the Community page for more popular stories from the community.

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3 comments // From the Community: Unemployment rate drops - the lowest since February 2009

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