January 8, 2005 08:36 AM
Jobs Picture Shows Some Signs of Life
Excerpt: Employment climbed at a steady if not spectacular pace in December, suggesting the economy is on a solid footing but that employers in many industries are still cautious about hiring.
Employment climbed at a steady if not spectacular pace in December, suggesting the economy is on a solid footing but that employers in many industries are still cautious about hiring.
The Labor Department reported on Friday that the nation added 157,000 jobs in December and about 2.2 million jobs for all of last year - a good annual gain and the best since 1999. But it was not quite enough, at least until further revisions are available, to make up for all the jobs lost earlier in President Bush's first term in office.
The increase in jobs, slightly lower than most economists had predicted, was roughly in line with the increase in the working-age population and left the unemployment rate unchanged at 5.4 percent.
"It's a wet firecracker," said Richard Yamarone, chief economist at Argus Research, a forecasting firm in New York. "This is positive job creation, but it pales in comparison with what we have had in previous economic recoveries."
Manufacturing companies, which shed more than two million jobs from 2000 to the end of 2003, added back only 96,000 jobs in 2004 - the weakest rebound in factory employment of any economic recovery on record in the United States.
The stock market fell slightly Friday, barely reacting to the jobs report. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index slipped to 1,186.19, down 0.14 percent. The bond market was muted and the dollar, reacting more to comments by Treasury Secretary John W. Snow, rose sharply against the euro.
The good news in Friday's employment report was that job creation grew at a stronger pace than originally estimated in October and November; the Labor Department, with further information from companies, increased its estimate for those two months by 34,000 jobs.
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