国产热热热精品,亚洲视频久久】日韩,三级婷婷在线久久,99人妻精品视频,精品九热人人肉肉在线,AV东京热一区二区,91po在线视频观看,久久激情宗合,青青草黄色手机视频

chinadaily.com.cn
left corner left corner
China Daily Website

US unemployment near three-year low

Updated: 2012-01-07 09:47
( Agencies)

US unemployment near three-year low

Vernon Tites, an out-of-work contractor from San Francisco, looks for jobs online at the Employment Development Department of California service office in San Francisco January 6, 2012. [Photo/Agencies]

WASHINGTON - US employment growth accelerated last month and the jobless rate dropped to a near three-year low of 8.5 percent, the strongest evidence yet the economic recovery is gaining steam.

Nonfarm payrolls increased 200,000 in December, the Labor Department said on Friday. It was the biggest rise in three months and beat economists' expectations for a 150,000 gain.

The unemployment rate fell from a revised 8.7 percent in November to its lowest level since February 2009, a heartening sign for President Barack Obama whose re-election hopes could hinge on the state of the labor market.

"The labor market is healing, but we still have a long way to go to recoup the losses we have endured. We may be close to a tipping point where gains can become more self-feeding," said Diane Swonk, chief economist at Mesirow Financial in Chicago.

A string of better-than-expected US data in recent weeks has highlighted a contrast between the recovery in the world's biggest economy and Europe, where the economy is widely believed to be contracting.

The jobs data was overshadowed in financial markets by concerns over Europe's debt crisis. US stocks ended mostly down, while Treasury debt prices rose on safe-haven bids.

The dollar rose to a near 16-month high against the euro.

Republican presidential hopefuls have blasted Obama's economic policies as doing more harm than good.

The latest economic signs, however, could offer him some political protection.

The economy added 1.6 million jobs last year, the most since 2006, and the jobless rate, which peaked at 10 percent in October 2009, has dropped 0.6 percentage point in the last four months.

Obama welcomed the news and urged Congress to extend a two-month payroll tax cut through 2012 to help sustain the recovery.

"We're moving in the right direction. When Congress returns they should extend the middle-class tax cut for all of this year, to make sure we keep this recovery going," he said.

 

...
莲花县| 东城区| 宜州市| 罗甸县| 眉山市| 游戏| 如皋市| 清水县| 遂昌县| 东宁县| 西华县| 乐山市| 剑河县| 清镇市| 甘洛县| 永顺县| 平江县| 禹城市| 新安县| 汶上县| 渑池县| 兴化市| 阜城县| 玉门市| 习水县| 龙门县| 湖口县| 四子王旗| 吕梁市| 屏东县| 汉源县| 莒南县| 河北省| 尼玛县| 金乡县| 五河县| 恭城| 兴宁市| 土默特右旗| 聊城市| 新邵县|