There are signs lately that the U.S. economy is starting to wake up from the coma that set in three years ago.
October saw the nation’s biggest monthly increase in business sector jobs since April — 159,000 net new jobs — according to Labor Department figures. The report showed much stronger job gains than Wall Street analysts had expected.
Revised Labor Dept. figures also showed that companies have added more than 100,000 net new jobs in each of the past four months.
Long Island is feeling the growth, with seven straight months of increases culminating in almost 11,000 more new jobs last month versus October 2009, says Newsday.
For the first time in nearly three years, Arizona’s job market is firmly headed in the right direction, with a net gain of more than 27,000 jobs. Among that growth, 5100 new construction jobs in the last month alone, according to an encouraging report from KOLD.
Kia Motors announced it will hire another 1,000 workers in Georgia offering a huge boost to that state’s manufacturing industry and economic recovery hopes.
Also, the Commerce Department estimated today that the nation’s GDP (gross domestic product) expanded at a faster clip than initially forecast in the third quarter, helped by more robust consumer spending and by stronger exports. GDP growth was 2.5% annualized in the quarter, revised up from the initial estimate of 2.0%. (More in Market Watch)