For the second month in a row, the U.S. economy did better than experts predicted adding 243,000 jobs in January, and the unemployment rate fell to 8.3 percent, down from 8.5 percent.
That means the jobless rate has now fallen for 5 months in a row. "The recovery is speeding up, and we have to do everything in our power to keep it going," said President Obama. Employers have added an average of 201,000 jobs per month in the past three months. That's 50,000 more jobs per month than the economy averaged in each month last year.The January jobs report was filled with other encouraging data and revisions. Hiring was widespread across many high-paying industries. Pay increased. And the economy added 200,000 more jobs in 2011 than first thought.
Even Wall Street seems optimistic. Stocks opened sharply higher, sensing a real recovery could be underway. Some professions where the new hiring is happening: nursing, biomedical engineering, and home health care. Also manufacturing added 50,000 jobs last month; some of them coming at the Chrysler plant in Illinois, where they are adding a third shift to make the new Dodge Dart. "This is the 21st century vehicle, made by people right here in Illinois, working together in the best traditions of our state," said Illinois Governor Pat Quinn. But it's not all roses and sunshine. More than 5 million people have still been out of work for six months or longer. But on the campaign trail, the good news could start to challenge one of the Republicans' favorite arguments. "We've had 35 months of unemployment over 8 percent," said Mitt Romney. Now at 8.3 percent, the unemployment rate is at its lowest point since the month right after President Obama took office. "The only people disheartened by this report are probably Republican political campaign consultants," said Dan Gross of Yahoo Finance.