http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN0432007920091204
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. employers cut far fewer jobs than expected last month in the best showing for the labor market since the recession began, lifting the beleaguered U.S. dollar as investors bet a sustainable recovery was building.
Economy
The economy shed only 11,000 jobs in November, well below the 130,000 loss financial markets had braced for, while the unemployment rate unexpectedly dropped to 10 percent from October's 10.2 percent, government data showed on Friday.
The data from the Labor Department signaled a broad-based improvement in the jobs market. In addition, job losses in September and October were revised down by a total of 159,000, contributing to the strong tenor of the report.
"It suggests that the labor market is much closer to its trough and more synchronized with broader measures of economic growth," said Brian Fabbri, chief North America economist at BNP Paribas in New York.
Traders speculated the data could lead the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates sooner than had been thought.
That sent the dollar soaring and pushed down prices for U.S. government debt. Against a basket of currencies, the dollar posted its biggest gain in nearly five months.
U.S. and European stocks jumped on the data, although the U.S. market later fell back to trade close to flat as the rallying dollar weighed on commodity prices.
"The economy is lifting at a much greater rate than expected," said Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at Bank of Tokyo/Mitsubishi UFJ in New York.
A separate report on factory orders for October showed a higher-than-expected 0.6 percent rise and the first gain in inventories in more than a year. Still, a subset of the data seen as a proxy for business investment retreated 3.4 percent.
HELP FOR OBAMA
While the jobless rate edged down, high unemployment remains a political headache for President Barack Obama and fellow Democrats, who are worried they will lose seats in Congress in next November's elections without a faster recovery.
Speaking in Pennsylvania, Obama described the data as good news and a sign that better days are ahead. But he emphasized that there is more work to do.
"We still have a long way to go. I still consider one job lost one job too many. The journey from here will not be without setbacks or struggle. There will be more bumps in the road. But the direction is clear," Obama said.
On Thursday, Obama had appealed to the corporate sector to join in the administration's employment-creation efforts, and the White House said on Friday the president would use a speech next week to discuss tapping the government's $700 billion financial rescue fund to spur job creation.
Republicans have warned against using the Troubled Asset Relief Program as a political slush fund and have hammered the administration for steep job losses.
"Any decrease in the unemployment rate is encouraging, but a jobless recovery and double-digit unemployment is not what the American people were promised," said House Republican leader John Boehner.
SUSTAINABLE RECOVERY HOPES
While the economy resumed growth in the third quarter after four straight quarters of decline, government stimulus fueled the growth and economists have worried a weak labor market would keep the recovery from becoming self-sustaining.
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Any damn fool knows unemployment is increasing and is going to continue increasing for the foreseeable future, say 15 years at the rock-bottom minimum. IMO I see no end to it, not even in my lifetime.
barkulator 1 year ago
Unemployment hasn't dropped. Jobs are STILL being lost every quarter. What they mean is that when they play with the numbers they get the results they want so they can look like they are doing a good job. They are NOT! Get them ALL out of office.
777BuddyBoy 2 years ago 2
Things are getting better but the Obama haters can't believe it.
mikesinner69 2 years ago
Its true!! they are running out of people to let go!!! lol
bastardchildofmary 2 years ago