The unemployment rate in the United States dropped to 9% last month according to a survey conducted by the government which shows that about a half-million people found jobs. Yet, a separate survey of payrolls, which doesn’t count the self-employed, showed a slight increase of 36,000 new jobs as weather conditions throughout the country hurt hiring.
The snow last month reduced constructions jobs, falling 32,000, the most in 8 months. Transportation and warehousing jobs lost employment by 38,000 which were the most in 12 months.
The gains in employment came in manufacturing, up 49,000 jobs, which saw the largest gain since 1998, and retail jobs which increased 28,000, the largest gain in 12 months.
While the overall report looks quite good, once again, the government reports cautions that a major explanation of the drop in the unemployment rate involves the huge number of persons who have stopped looking for jobs throughout the nation. The government does not count those persons in the formula to determine the unemployment rate. All told, the number of unemployed fell more than 600,000 in January 2011 to 13.9 million.
