For the fifth straight month, the unemployment rate across America dropped as more employers added 243,000 new jobs in January 2012. Unemployment is the lowest in nearly three years at 8.3 percent, the LA Times reported. The last time it was that low was February 2009.
Statistics released by the Labor Department Feb 3 said that the job gains came from the private sector as government continued to trim its payrolls. They previously estimated the hiring in January to be around 100,000, so the hiring momentum was much higher than expected. But in spite of the encouraging job gains, the report also stated that 12.8 million people remained unemployed in America – 43% of them for more than six months – and that another 8.2 million part-time workers couldn’t find full-time employment.