Lies lies and more gov't lies... NOT. The point of Recognition is nigh
See the post I am responding to and all those posts I am responding to ad nauseam.
U.S. Unemployment Rate Unexpectedly Falls to 5.5% as 66,000 Jobs Are Added
from Bloomberg
By Siobhan Hughes
Washington, March 8 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. added jobs in February for the first time in seven months and the unemployment rate unexpectedly fell to 5.5 percent, signs the economy is rebounding from recession faster than anticipated.
``The recovery is well on track and coming in faster than anyone thought,'' said Scott Brown, an economist at Raymond James & Associates Inc. in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Payrolls increased by 66,000 last month after dropping by 126,000 in January and 106,000 in December, the Labor Department said. February's job gain was the most in a year. Unemployment fell from 5.6 percent in January and was the lowest since October.
Employment rose at construction companies, aided by unseasonably warm weather, as well as at retailers, airlines and government agencies. Job losses at factories were the smallest in more than a year. Home Depot Inc., Southwest Airlines Inc. and Sunrise Assisted Living Inc. are among companies hiring workers amid optimism that an expansion is under way.
U.S. Treasury securities fell after the report suggested Federal Reserve policy makers may start to raise interest rates before midyear to keep the economy from overheating. The 4 7/8 percent note maturing in February 2012 fell 3/4 point, pushing up its yield 10 basis points to 5.33 percent.
Fed Policy
Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan and his colleagues on the policy- setting Open Market Committee meet March 19, and economists expect them to leave the benchmark overnight lending rate at a 40-year low of 1.75 percent and to declare the risks to the economy are now balanced between inflation and weak growth.
``The Fed's going to keep rates on hold in March,'' Brown said. ``May is a different story.''
The U.S. economy grew at a 1.4 percent annual rate in the fourth quarter, the fastest in a year, reflecting the strongest pace of consumer spending since the second quarter of 1998. If the recession, which started in March 2001, ended last month, that would make it just as long as the average post-World War II recession of 11 months.
Analysts had expected no change in payrolls after a previously reported drop of 89,000 jobs in January, based on the median of 63 forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey. They had expected the jobless rate to rise to 5.8 percent because unemployment typically keeps rising at the start of a recovery.
``The bounce back will probably come relatively quickly,'' said Tim O'Neill, chief economist at Bank of Montreal in Toronto, before the report. ``We could very well top out at an unemployment rate below 6 percent.''
Factories
Factories eliminated 50,000 jobs in February, the fewest since December 2000. Ford Motor Co., the second-largest automaker, is delaying production cuts at four U.S. plants because of increased demand for new cars and light trucks.
``I don't think sales in 2002 are setting the world on fire but they are at a higher level than we thought they would be,'' said Ford sales analyst George Pipas last week. The move affects a total of 575 workers.
Boeing Co., the biggest private employer in Southern California, last month announced plans to cut as many as 1,050 jobs at its satellite-making unit in El Segundo and Torrance. Orders have fallen because companies such as Iridium LLC and Teledesic LLC are canceling or scaling back plans for large communications networks because they wouldn't attract enough customers.
Employment in service-producing industries, which include retailers, transportation firms and government agencies, rose 97,000 in February -- the largest increase since August -- after a 49,000 gain the previous month. ``We're going to see services payrolls begin to steadily increase'' as the economy recovers, said Gregory Miller, chief economist at SunTrust Banks Inc. in Atlanta.
Sunrise
Sunrise Assisted Living, the operator of homes for people with Alzheimer's disease or other forms of memory impairment, last month said it would hire 3,000 people this year.
And employment at help supply service companies rose 14,000 last month. ``The general sense is one of optimism,'' said Reesa Staten, a vice president at the job-placement firm Robert Half International Inc., in an interview before the report. ``As workloads increase, often companies will bring in temporary workers until they feel confident enough to bring in full-time staff.''
Transportation companies added 8,000 jobs in February after losing 11,000 in January. Employment at airlines rose 5,000, the first increase since May. Southwest Airlines, the largest low-fare carrier, plans to hire 4,000 employees this year as it adds 11 new airplanes and increases flights.
Retailers added 58,000 jobs in February after a gain of 41,000 in January. Home Depot, the world's largest home- improvement retailer, last month opened 17 new stores, adding more than 3,000 new associates, after profit rose 53 percent in the quarter ended Feb. 3. Kohl's Department Stores last week announced plants to open several new stores in Houston, adding 1,600 jobs.
Construction
Construction payrolls rose by 25,000 last month after a decline of 63,000, reflecting warmer weather than usual. The National Climatic Data Center has reported that temperatures were higher than normal across the country last month, while the amount of rain and snowfall was below normal.
Workers' average hourly earnings rose 0.1 percent, or 2 cents, in February, after a 0.2 percent increase in January. Average weekly earnings rose to $498.88 last month from $498.20 in January. Analysts had expected a 0.3 percent increase in wages.
The available labor pool fell to 12.3 million from 12.7 million in January. That combines the number of unemployed job seekers and people not counting themselves as unemployed who nonetheless looked for work in the last 12 months and said they would take a job.
The Labor Department also said that the percentage of the U.S. population holding jobs rose to 63 percent in February from 62.6 percent in January.
Hours Worked
Average weekly hours worked were unchanged at 34.1. Manufacturing overtime, which usually increases before factories begin adding workers, held at 3.9 hours.
The government's monthly job growth figures are based on statistics provided by businesses, while the unemployment rate is based on a survey of U.S. households.
Among blacks, the unemployment rate fell to 9.6 percent from 9.8 percent in January. The jobless rate for Hispanics decreased to 7.1 percent from 8.1 percent and for whites fell to 4.9 percent from 5 percent.
For teenagers, unemployment fell to 15.6 percent in February from 16.1 percent in January. The jobless rate for women rose to 5 percent in February from 4.8 percent. The jobless rate for men decreased to 5 percent from 5.2 percent.
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Best Regards, J.T. |
