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An applicant at a Chicago area job fair. (Tribune)
The unemployment rate fell to a two-year low of 8.8 percent in March and companies added workers at the fastest two-month pace since before the recession began.
The Labor Department says the economy added 216,000 new jobs last month, offsetting layoffs a local governments. Factories, retailers, education, health care and an array of professional and financial services expanded payrolls. Get the full story »
Employers across the country added a modest 103,000 jobs to their payrolls in December, the government said Friday, closing out the year with a bit of whimper instead of the bang that some economists were expecting.
The Labor Department report, however, showed that the unemployment rate dropped dramatically last month to 9.4 percent, from 9.8 percent in November. The drop was likely due at least in part to statistical adjustments, as the government’s count of unemployed workers fell by 556,000 to 14.5 million. Get the full story »
The U.S, economy added the highest number of temporary jobs last month since January, suggesting U.S. employers remain concerned about the pace of the U.S. recovery and are reluctant to step up permanent hiring.
Concrete evidence remains elusive that temp jobs — traditionally a leading indicator of full-time, or “perm” hiring — will soon translate into robust jobs growth. Get the full story »
Job candidates at a World Women in Technology career fair at Chicago's Navy Pier in October. (Tim Boyle/Getty)
In a major setback for the economy, the nation’s jobless rate jumped to 9.8 percent in November as employers added surprisingly few new jobs over the month, the government said Friday.
The unemployment rate had been at 9.6 percent in the prior three months. The increase last month came as employers added just 39,000 jobs in November — a sharp drop-off from a revised 172,000 job gains in October and an average monthly gain of 86,000 this year. Get the full story »
The nation’s sluggish job market showed signs of life in October: Employers added a net 151,000 jobs over the month, and private-sector job creation was the strongest since April, the Labor Department said Friday.
However, the better-than-expected job gains weren’t large enough to bring down the unemployment rate, which remained stuck at 9.6 percent for the third month in a row. A broader measure of unemployment and underemployment, which includes part-time workers who can’t find full-time jobs, dropped a notch to 17 percent last month. Get the full story »
Students seek employment during a U. of I. job fair in Springfield. (AP/Seth Perlman)
The nation’s jobless rate worsened slightly last month, edging up to 9.6 percent from 9.5 percent in July, the government said Friday in a report that had little for workers to cheer about this Labor Day weekend.
Overall, the American economy lost 54,000 net jobs in August, as another 114,000 temporary Census workers were dismissed from the federal government’s payrolls. Get the full story »
The employment picture in the U.S. remained bleak last month as the nation’s payrolls fell for a second straight month, with private-sector businesses adding a disappointingly scant number of new jobs. The jobless rate held steady at 9.5 percent in July, the government said Friday. Get the full story »
