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Unemployment Rises to 9%, but Hiring Is Up

As more rejoin the job search, unemployment rate goes up

By the Associated Press

Posted May 6, 2011 7:51 AM CDT

(AP) – Employers added more than 200,000 jobs in April for the third straight month, the biggest hiring spree in five years. But the unemployment rate rose to 9% in part because some people resumed looking for work. The Labor Department says the economy added 244,000 jobs last month. Private employers shrugged off high gas prices and created 268,000 jobs—the most since February 2006.

The gains were widespread. Retailers, factories, financial companies, education, health care, and even construction companies all added jobs. Federal, state, and local governments cut jobs. The data suggests businesses are confident in the economy despite weak growth earlier this year. Still, unemployment increased slightly from March's 8.8%, the first increase since November.

In this March 1, 2011 photo, Mariam Bario, recently relocated to Seattle from Kenya, fills out an application with others at a job fair, in SeaTac, Wash.
In this March 1, 2011 photo, Mariam Bario, recently relocated to Seattle from Kenya, fills out an application with others at a job fair, in SeaTac, Wash.   (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
In this May 3, 2011 photo, Samantha Ferrara, 19, waits in line for a job fair to open, in Independence, Ohio.
In this May 3, 2011 photo, Samantha Ferrara, 19, waits in line for a job fair to open, in Independence, Ohio.   (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)
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COMMENTS
Showing 2 of 7 comments
murphyj87
May 6, 2011 8:13 AM CDT
American unemployment is 9.0% for March, Canadian unemployment for March is 7.7%. The US added 244,000 jobs. Canada added 90,400 jobs or the equivalent of 904,000 jobs in US terms (10 times the population of Canada). Based on equal populations, Canada produced 660,000 more jobs that the US did (904,000-244,000).
Dave99
May 6, 2011 8:07 AM CDT
If this level of job creation keeps up it bodes well for Obamas reelection. Still there are many questions. Job numbers have had a fair amount of fiction in them but they became virtually worthless when Bush started just flat out making them up with his birth death stat. You can find lots of info online about how he was doing that. Here's one from 2005. http://www.thestreet.com/story/10258387/3/rethinking-the-strong-jobs-recovery-scenario.html clip - A modest estimate of new jobs created would be acceptable as a reasonable adjustment to the true data collection. But that's not what we see when we take a look at the data closely: Of the 4.4 million new jobs from the March 2003 low until present, the birth/death estimate accounts for 1,639,000. That is an extremely significant 36.7% of new jobs. By any measure, that's a hefty estimated adjustment to an actual data-based number.

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US • Money

 
unemployment • US economy • economy • hiring • jobless • unemployment rate • jobs

 
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