Unemployment Rate Declines

 For what seems like an eternity, we've been reporting monthly unemployment data with a big downward sloping arrow.  Although the job situation is still bad, there's a moral victory this month in absence of the graphic.  According to the Labor Department, the unemployment rate dropped to 10%, down from 10.2%--representing a loss of only 11,000 jobs.  That's a huge improvement from previous months, which saw losses in the hundreds of thousands.  Of course, as things start to improve, the rate may not change (and may even go up a bit) as people who stopped looking for jobs start up again.

There were other hopeful signs though.  The use of temporary workers grew and the average workweek length increased, both of which suggest increased hiring in the future.

-JH