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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JakeStraw who wrote (488845)	11/7/2003 9:15:09 AM
From: Kenneth E. Phillipps	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 769667

Payroll numbers grow again Post surprisingly large gain in October, second straight month of growth; unemployment falls to 6%. November 7, 2003: 8:58 AM EST NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - U.S. payrolls grew in October for the second straight month, the government said Friday, trouncing Wall Street expectations, as the labor market accelerated its recovery from its longest slump since World War II. Unemployment fell to 6 percent from 6.1 percent in September, the Labor Department reported, while payrolls outside the farm sector rose by 126,000 jobs after rising a revised 125,000 in September. Economists, on average, expected an unemployment rate of 6.1 percent and payrolls growth of 58,000 jobs, according to a Reuters poll. It was the biggest month for job growth since January, when payrolls grew by 158,000 jobs. U.S. stock market futures were slightly higher after the report, pointing to a positive opening on Wall Street. Treasury bond prices fell. Most economists believe payrolls need to grow by at least 150,000 jobs a month in order to keep up with the natural growth of the labor force and keep the unemployment rate down, and that is generally expected to happen only slowly in the next year. The labor market has for several months been mired in its longest slump since World War II, with payrolls 2.4 million jobs lighter than they were in March 2001, when the latest recession began. About 8.8 million people were unemployed in October, the department said, 2 million of whom have been out of work for 27 weeks or longer. Manufacturing continued to shed jobs, losing 17,000 in October. Service payrolls rose by 143,000. Average hourly wages rose a penny, or 0.1 percent, to $15.46 from $15.45 in September. Wage growth is critical to the strength of consumer spending, which fuels more than two-thirds of the economy. The average work week grew to 33.8 hours from 33.7 in September, indicating businesses increased activity in October. Manufacturing hours were flat at 40.5, and overtime hours were flat at 4.2.