Job Market Improves

The U.S. economy grew 151,000 jobs in October according to the Department of Labor. Almost all of the job growth was in the private sector where 159,000 jobs were gained. Economists had only predicted a growth of 91,000 jobs in the private sector, so the better than predicted gains were a welcome boost to the ailing economy. The overall gain of 151,000 jobs was an improvement over the 68,000 that were originally predicted by economists for October after the miserable loss of 41,000 jobs in September.

While private employers gained, 8000 government sector jobs were lost in October over all. Unemployment remained at 9.6%.

The job market needs about 150,000 new jobs per month just to keep up with population growth, and 300,000 new jobs are needed per month in order to effectively lift the country out of the current high state of unemployment at a pace that will begin to improve the economy.