Positive News to Start 2012 by Tim McLaughlin
Employment data for the final month of 2011 was reported this morning and the numbers were extremely strong. U.S. employers added more workers to payrolls than forecast in December and the jobless rate declined to an almost three year low, showing that the labor market gained significant momentum heading into 2012.
The 200,000 increase last month followed a revised 100,000 gain in November, Labor Department figures showed in Washington. The median projection in a Bloomberg News survey called for a December gain of 155,000. The unemployment rate unexpectedly fell to 8.5 percent, the lowest since February 2009, while hours worked and earnings climbed.
“It really does look like the economy is beginning to change gears as the labor market is firming,” Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economic Advisors Inc. in Holland, Pennsylvania, said before the report. “We started off 2011 with pretty solid job gains and that looks like it could be the case in 2012 as well.”
The unemployment rate, derived from a separate survey of households, was forecast to climb to 8.7 percent, according to the survey median. The decrease in the jobless rate from a revised 8.7 percent in November reflected a decline in unemployment combined with a gain in Americans saying they were employed.
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Additionally, on Thursday, Consumer Confidence rose to the highest level in more than five months and the pace of firings declined, showing an improving job market is bolstering the biggest part of the economy.
The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index climbed to minus 44.8 in the period ended Dec. 31, the best reading since mid-July, from minus 47.5 the prior week. Applications for jobless benefits decreased by 15,000 during the same time to 372,000, according to Labor Department figures.
A pickup in hiring will further lift Americans’ moods, raising the odds household spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of the economy, will keep climbing
