157,000 Jobs Created Nationally, Unemployment Rate Ticks Up
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – While the job market in South Florida continues to struggle, nationally, the numbers remain positive, but not enough to bring the unemployment rate down.
According to the Labor Department, the U.S. economy added 157,000 jobs in January. However, due to job losses and continuing unemployment, the unemployment rate ticked up to 7.9 percent in the first month of the year.
However, the Labor Department revised the job numbers from November and December 2012 up significantly. The new job creation numbers in November increased from 161,000 originally to a revised 247,000. In December, the numbers were revised up from 155,000 to 196,000.
Overall, the revisions to the last month of the year gave 2012 an average monthly job growth of 181,000.
One area that continues to bring the overall employment numbers down is government jobs. The government shed an additional 9,000 jobs last month, further complicating the unemployment picture moving forward.
Florida will add to this number in the coming year as the state looks to shed nearly 4,000 state workers from the state payroll.
According to the Washington Post's Neil Irwin, there was a big drop in long-term unemployed, by 58,000. However, the broadest measure of unemployment, U-6, which measures not just those on unemployment insurance, but those underemployed, and those who have given up looking for work, was unchanged in January at 14.4 percent.
