Friday, February 04, 2005

Good News/Bad News On Economy

The jobs report for January indicates that 147,000 new jobs were created in the 1st month of 2005. This number represents aproximatly 2/3 of what I expected when I wrote on this blog that between 200,000 and 350,000 jobs would be created in January. This number of new jobs none-the-less represents a pick-up from the previous month (December 2004) which was revised down from 157,000 to 133,000 jobs created.

Even though these numbers are lack-luster at best, they helped the unemployment rate drop to a 3 year low from 5.4% to 5.2%.

Despite the sluggish start to 2005, President Bush's first term in office ended up showing a net gains in payroll jobs. From January 2001 to January 2005, the economy generated a net gain of 119,000 jobs. That allows Bush to escape being what Democrats and other critics had projected as the first president since Herbert Hoover to have a net loss of jobs on his watch.



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