U.S. posts strong job numbers
Sat, November 4, 2006
Unemployment rate at five-year low
By AP
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. unemployment rate sank to a five-year low of 4.4% and workers' wages grew solidly last month, flashing a picture of a jobs market on firm footing as voters go to the polls.
Figures released yesterday by the U.S. Labor Department suggested employers are coping fairly well with a national economy that has lost a lot of momentum due to a housing slump.
Still, pockets of pain were evident. The struggling auto industry slashed jobs. So did companies involved in home building, as well as furniture makers -- casualties of the sour housing market. Retailers continued to give employees pink slips.
All told, the economy added 92,000 new jobs in October.
Although that fell short of economists' expectations for an increase of around 125,000, gains in both August and September turned out to have been much stronger.
For August and September combined, the economy generated 139,000 more jobs than previously estimated, and that eased the sting from October. So did the drop in the unemployment rate, from 4.6% in September, the third straight month the rate had declined.
Republicans and Democrats looking for help in the report -- the last snapshot of the employment scene before next week's elections -- clashed about which party would do a better job taking care of the country's broader economic and fiscal health. |
