Obama Mulls Tax Cuts, Spending to Goose Economy

Firm to invest $580K in aviation plants amid effort to reboot economy

(NEWSER) - As General Electric prepares to host an economic summit in Washington, the firm has announced some fixes of its own: It will hire 5,000 US veterans over five years and invest $580 million in its aviation operations this year, Reuters reports. "We should have the confidence to act and to restore American competitiveness," said CEO and Obama adviser Jeffrey Immelt. The company will open new plants in Dayton, Ohio; Ellsville, Mississippi; and Auburn, Alabama. The four-day Washington gathering begins today, and will feature speeches by Boeing boss James McNerney and Dow Chemical CEO Andrew Liveris. More»

Columbus, Indiana, and Casper, Wyoming top employment list

(NEWSER) - Recession—that's a big-city thing, right? Several mid-size cities around the US are making an argument for their economic superiority, boasting job growth higher than the 1.5% national average in 2011. You may not know these cities well, but the Christian Science Monitor recommends them:

1. Columbus, Indiana: No, not Ohio's Columbus: Indiana's version had 10% growth from 2009 to 2010, making it the best economic rebounder during the Great Recession. Jobs are up 6.4%.

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»

In part because they have to be

(NEWSER) - The good news is that at least one segment of the population has seen its employment statistics actually rise in this economic downturn. The bad news? That segment is older Americans, many of whom are only working because they're afraid they don't have enough savings to retire, the Washington Post reports. Since the start of the recession, the number of workers aged 55 and older has shot up by 3.1 million, or 12%. More»

Voters care about change in unemployment rate

(NEWSER) - Will next year's election depend on "the economy, stupid"? History shows that despite high unemployment, President Obama could still reclaim the White House based on the economy's performance, the AP reports. That's because voters react to the change in unemployment, not its absolute number. What they care about: whether the unemployment rate has fallen in the two years before the presidential election. More»