Well we got unemploymen back to 9 % from 8.8 %, boo, BUT we have more people getting Jobs, and more employers hiring..yea..so
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www.courant.com/business/sns-rt-news-us-usa-economytre7452aw-20110506,0,462225.story
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Hiring by companies hits 5-year high in April
4:39 p.m. EDT, May 6, 2011
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Companies created jobs at the fastest pace in five years in April, pointing to underlying strength in the economy even as the jobless rate rose to 9.0 percent.
Private sector hiring, including a big jump at retailers, boosted overall nonfarm payrolls by 244,000, the largest increase in 11 months, the Labor Department said on Friday. Economists had expected a gain of only 186,000.
The private sector created 268,000 jobs, the most since February 2006, while government payrolls shrank.
The data backed views the economic recovery would regain speed this quarter after stumbling in the first three months of the year. Earlier this week, other reports pointed to a slowing in the labor market.
"What we're seeing is a sustained pick-up in hiring and it suggests that businesses have gained enough confidence to look past short-term fluctuations in demand," said Aaron Smith, a senior economist at Moody's Analytics in West Chester, Pennsylvania.
Investors on Wall Street cheered the report, which showed job gains across the board, with the exception of government. U.S. stocks rose for the first time this week, while prices for longer-dated government debt fell.
The dollar rose broadly and some of the gains were driven by a German news report, later denied, suggesting Greece had raised the possibility of leaving the euro zone.
While the economy has created jobs for seven straight months, gains remain too meager to make much of a dent in the pool of 13.7 million Americans who are out of work.
A recent spike in first-time applications for state unemployment benefits caused some economists to worry that job growth could slow in May and June. Initial claims vaulted to an eight-month high last week.
Still, the pace of job growth averaged 233,000 over the past three months, an acceleration from 104,000 in the prior three months that suggests the recovery is growing firmer.
Nigel Gault, chief U.S. economist at IHS Global Insight in Lexington, Massachusetts, said the rise "shows good momentum that should allow the economy to absorb the twin shocks from the Middle East and Japan without too much damage."
JOBLESS RATE UP
The unemployment rate in April backed away from a two-year low of 8.8 percent to rise for the first time in five months. It is derived from a separate survey of households, which showed a sharp decline in employment and a modest rise in the size of the labor force.
Economists, however, place more weight on the larger, less-volatile survey of employers, which found 46,000 more jobs than previously thought were created in the prior two months.
The report capped a good week for President Barack Obama, whose approval ratings received a lift from the killing of Osama bin Laden. A healthier jobs market could prove key to his hopes to win reelection in 2012.
The White House can also take relief from a big drop in oil prices on Thursday that should soon drag gasoline costs lower. Brent crude futures fell for a fifth straight day on Friday."
for surprising good news, the messenger gets either shot or praised and lots of rewards, wear it well