Job Creation Still Slow
DETROIT (WWJ) - Unemployment numbers are down, but job creation continues to be weak. That's the bottom line from the Labor Department, which says the January jobless rate fell to nine percent. That's the lowest it's been in nearly two years. However, the economy generated only 36,000 new jobs.
WWJ and Fox 2 Business Editor Murray Feldman was taking a closer look at some of those numbers, Friday.
"One number I want to throw at you, I think, is very significant -- small businesses. A career-builder study has just been released, finding that 21 percent of small businesses expect to hire full timers this year. Sixty-four percent expect no change in hiring -- that's the big drag," he said.
"They're concerned about health care costs, getting credit and government regulations. Those are things that we have to take into consideration when we take a look at how fast this economy is going to come back with job creation," Feldman said.
Feldman says the economy needs to add 125,000 jobs every month to sustain a real recovery.
In one bright spot last month, manufacturing added 49,000 jobs, the most since August 1998. Retailers added 28,000 jobs -- the largest number in a year.
Hear more from Murray in The Feldman Report.
