Friday, February 03, 2006

Remember when job creation was the one theme that John Kerry kept hammering away at during the 2004 presidential election campaign? They forgot the old Wall Street warning - "past results (ed. - or lack thereof) are not a guarantee of future performance".

Jobless rate falls to 4.7% in January

The U.S. unemployment rate fell to a 5-year low of 4.7% in January as 193,000 jobs were added to nonfarm payrolls, the Labor Department said Friday.



The January payroll figures fell short of expectations of a gain of 248,000, but with upward revisions to November and December of 81,000, the total payroll count was a bit more than expected."This report is much stronger than it first appears," said Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist for High Frequency Economics.

"Despite the 'disappointing' headline, this is a strong report, with the theme again one of upward revisions," said analysts for Action Economics.

Payroll growth averaged 160,000 per month in 2005; it has averaged 229,000 in the past three months.

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