Economy Adds 244k Jobs, Though Unemployment Ticks Up To 9%

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The economy added 244,000 jobs in April, significantly more than predicted, indicating that the recovery still has legs despite disappointing projections from the Federal Reserve last month.

The private sector led the charged with an impressive 268,000 new jobs added, including 57,000 new retail positions, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In addition to last month’s growth, the previous two month’s numbers were revised upwards to include 46,000 more jobs. In another positive sign, the number of long-term unemployed — those who have not held a job for 27 weeks or more — declined by 283,000.

While economists and leaders from both political parties hailed the report as a positive sign, the unemployment rate ticked up slightly to 9.0% from 8.8% in March. The downward turn did not come from higher participation in the job market by previously discouraged workers, writes the New York Times’ David Leonhardt, but from revisions to slightly inflated numbers in previous jobs reports.

White House economic advisor Austan Goolsbee noted that private sector job growth reached its highest monthly total in several years and credited policies put in place as part of the deal to extend the Bush tax cuts for speeding up the expansion.

“Despite headwinds from high energy prices and disruptions from the disaster in Japan, the last three months of private job gains have been the strongest in five years,” he said in a statement. “While the solid pace of employment growth in recent months is encouraging, faster growth is needed to replace the jobs lost in the downturn. We are seeing signs that the initiatives put in place by this Administration – such as the payroll tax cut and business incentives for investment – are creating the conditions for companies to add new jobs and foster the industries of the future.”

Both Republicans and Democrats framed the jobs numbers as good news, albeit with caveats.

“Today’s news that the economy added 244,000 jobs, including the most private sector jobs in over five years, is more evidence that our economy is headed back on the right track,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said in a statement. ‪”But many people in Nevada and across America are still facing tough times. That’s why Democrats remain focused on putting Americans back to work. Republicans on the other hand are wasting time on partisan grandstanding, and this week blocked a bill to help small businesses innovate, grow and hire. This is not the time to be distracted by these political games – it’s time they join us in putting middle class families first and help us pass the common-sense measures that will help out economy continue to grow.”

Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) said in a statement that “uncertainty” was holding back further job gains.

“While any improvement is welcome news, job growth in America is still nowhere close to what it should be,” he said. “Our economy continues to suffer from the uncertainty being caused for private-sector job creators by the Democrats who run Washington. Over the past month, rather than joining Republicans in focusing on policies that promote long-term economic growth to help balance the federal budget, the Democrats who control Washington have indicated they are planning to increase taxes and allow the government’s spending binge to continue. The policies proposed by the White House and Senate Democrats are causing renewed uncertainty for private-sector job creators, crowding out private investment and punishing small businesses and entrepreneurs who are willing to invest, expand, and take risks to create more American jobs.”

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