Via the Associated Press:
WASHINGTON - The nation's unemployment rate held steady at 6.1 percent in September as businesses added to payrolls for the first time in eight months, suggesting a turnaround in the weak job market.When will this economic insanity end??
A survey of U.S. companies showed a net increase of 57,000 jobs last month in wide-ranging industries, the Labor Department (news - web sites) reported Friday, and there was new hope for recovery in the slumping manufacturing sector. Some 29,000 factory jobs were lost, but that was considerably fewer than in previous months.
Economists had expected the overall civilian unemployment rate to rise to 6.2 percent, with a loss of 25,000 more jobs.
"This is potentially the key turning point," said Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economic Advisors.
"It is really taking on the tone of a labor market that is finally getting over the hump. Indeed, this is what we need to create the confidence in both the household sector and the business sector that this recovery is real," Naroff added.
Job losses in August, initially reported at 93,000, were sharply revised to 41,000, a positive sign, he said.
