Economy recovery seems finally to be reaching American workers as the government reported that the unemployment rate and the number of jobless fell to 8.3 percent, in January to the lowest levels since
early 2009.
The Labor Department's latest snapshot of the job market, released on Friday, makes clear that employers have been hiring more in recent months, with 243,000 net new jobs in January. The unemployment rate now stands at 8.3 percent, down from 8.5 percent a month earlier and from 9.1 percent as recently as last August. The report revealed job gains not just for the last month but for previous months. December job growth was revised to 203,000, from the original 200,000. The job gains for November, originally 100,000 jobs, were revised upward to 157,000, creating a picture of a job market that has been gathering steam.