Update: PJ: I read this report in The Guardian as good news for the US then read a few more items from the US media that put this positive report in perspective with respect to US politics. It seems that the new GOP darling, Rick Santorum thinks that he and his rivals for the Republican nomination deserve total credit for improving employment numbers: http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/01/republican-candidates-misrepresent-obamas-jobs-record.php?ref=fpb, while the other GOP WH contenders either deny that anything positive is happening or distort the history of the recession.
Sadly politics in the US is not about 'for the good of country' but is about 'for the good of the party'.
The Guardian
Unemployment falls again as US adds 200,000 jobs in December
Cheer for Obama as job growth accelerates and unemployment rate drops to 8.5% – the lowest level since February 2009
By Dominic Rushe
Employers added 200,000 jobs to the US economy in December as unemployment fell to 8.5%, the government announced on Friday.
According to the US Labour Department's monthly survey of employers private companies added 212,000 jobs in December, while the public sector—federal, state and local governments—shrank by 12,000.
A separate survey of US households said the unemployment rate sank to 8.5% in December, its lowest level since February 2009.
While job growth has yet to make up for the ground lost during the recession, 13.1 million Americans remain unemployed, December was the 15th consecutive month that the job numbers have risen.
Marcus Bullus, trading director at MB Capital, said: "That's one hell of a number. Such an impressive fall in both the number of jobless Americans and the unemployment rate will cheer everyone bar Republican spin doctors.
"The Obama administration could be forgiven for showboating over this convincing evidence that America's economy is pulling away from Europe's.
"From a market perspective, strong US data like this will add to optimism, but nobody doubts the considerable downward pressure the eurozone will continue to place on the global marketplace during 2012."
The rosier outlook for US jobs comfortably beat analysts' expectations and follows on from good news earlier this week.
The US added 325,000 private-sector jobs in December, according to the latest monthly poll by payroll giant Automatic Data Processing and consultancy firm Macroeconomic Advisers. Economists were expecting a rise of between 125,000 to 230,000.
ADP's figures do not always tally with the government's, and economists cautioned that seasonal factors may have boosted the figures. Even so, all the major measures of the job market appear to be improving.
The four-week average of new jobless claims has fallen to its lowest level since before the financial crisis hit in late 2008. The number of layoff announcements in December fell to to 41,785, the lowest monthly total since June, according to the latest report by outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
However, Challenger's tally of job cuts for the whole of 2011 was 606,082, 14% higher than the 529,973 job cuts announced in 2010. The numbers were still far lower than the recession peak's 1.2m job cuts in 2009 but they were driven higher by big cuts in government employment.
The US government announced plans to eliminate 183,064 jobs in 2011, a 29% increase from 142,255 in 2010. Government job cuts were 188% higher than the financial sector, the next biggest job cutter of 2011, which cut 63,624 last year.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/jan/06/unemployment-falls-jobs-added-december
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