January 2010 Unemployment Rate

Posted on February 5, 2010 by townsend

• Labor market shows signs of reawakening in new data, By Peter S. Goodman and Javier C. Hernandez, February 5, 2010, New York Times: “The American unemployment rate dipped from 10 percent to 9.7 percent in January, the Labor Department reported Friday, buoying hopes that the worst job market in at least a quarter-century is finally improving. The economy shed another 20,000 net jobs during the course of the month, underscoring the considerable strains remaining in millions of American households. Yet that marked a continued decline in the pace of deterioration. Economists focused on a host of encouraging signs that suggested recovery following the worst recession since the Great Depression…”
• January unemployment rate drops to 9.7 percent, By Neil Irwin, February 5, 2010, Washington Post: “The unemployment rate showed a surprisingly steep decline in January even as the nation continued to shed jobs, the government said Friday, in a report that suggested the labor market picture remains mixed. Employers slashed 20,000 net jobs in January, the Labor Department said, compared with the 13,000 gain that economists had forecast. November and December results were revised down slightly. But the biggest surprise was the unemployment rate, which declined to 9.7 percent; analysts had expected it to be unchanged at 10 percent…”
• January unemployment rate drops to 9.7 percent, By Christopher S. Rugaber (AP), February 5, 2010, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “The outlook for jobs became a bit less bleak with January’s unexpected decline in the unemployment rate, which fell to 9.7 percent from 10 percent. Still, Friday’s unemployment report showed justhow deep the job crisis remains: 8.4 million jobs vanished in the Great Recession. Economists say the nation would be lucky to get back 1.5 million jobs this year. And they say it will take at least three to four years for the job market to return to anything like normal. The unemployment rate fell to its lowest level since August because a Labor Department survey of households found a sharp rise in the number of Americans with jobs. The survey found that 541,000 more Americans had jobs last month. But those gains resulted from seasonal adjustments to the data. Without those adjustments, the data show fewer people had jobs last month…”