Unemployment Hits 9.7%, but Job Losses Are Slowing

Pension, health care issues final sticking points

(NEWSER) - Congressional negotiators have reached a deal on a $150 billion economic bill that will extend the payroll tax holiday through the end of the year, while also extending unemployment benefits and preventing an automatic cut in doctors' Medicare reimbursements. Congress could vote on the bill as soon as today, the Washington Post reports, in what White House aides say may be the last significant piece of legislation passed before the election. More»

Economy could propel him to re-election, or doom him

(NEWSER) - The better-than-expected jobs report yesterday lifts President Obama's chances of re-election, but the Wall Street Journal points out that he's going to need more good news if history is any guide. It could go one of two ways, a la Ronald Reagan or George HW Bush. At the moment, the unemployment numbers are similar to Reagan's at the same time in his first term—today's 8.3% vs. 8% then. But, crucially, the numbers kept improving all the way through the election, and Reagan won. More»

243K jobs were added in January: jobs report

(NEWSER) - The unemployment rate had been expected to hold steady at 8.5%, with just 125,000 jobs added—instead, unemployment fell to 8.3% and 243,000 jobs were added last month, according to January's better-than-expected jobs report. The report has Wall Street Journal bloggers particularly effusive: "America's back, baby. America's back." Stock futures are also up on the news, the Journal notes. More»

There are plenty of reasons the president should be worried

(NEWSER) - Democrats, and many pundits, seem to believe that President Obama is rebounding, and will surely win re-election, but Jim Vandehei of Politico isn't buying it. Here's why he thinks the president should be sweating right now:

• The economy: The recent CBO report not only projected another trillion-dollar deficit, it predicted that unemployment will rise to 8.8% in the third quarter—something Obama's own advisers doubt he could recover from.

Globalization, technology have pushed out the average guy

(NEWSER) - Once upon a time, an average worker with average skills could expect an average lifestyle in America—but not anymore. "Today, average is officially over," writes Thomas Friedman of the New York Times . Average people can't expect the lifestyle they used to enjoy, because "employers have so much more access to so much more above average cheap foreign labor, cheap robotics, cheap software, cheap automation, and cheap genius." More»