Economists are reacting to the new jobs report saying the fall in the unemployment rate is legitimate good news, while President Obama calls it a “cause for hope.”
“It was not driven, as it sometimes is, by labor force dropouts,” wrote Stephen Stanley, of RBS. “The labor force grew by 360,000 in January while household employment surged by 784,000, more than reversing the big December decline.”
(Read more economists’ opinions on the Jobs report at the Wall Street Journal)
Sales Growth is Back
Make no mistake. The economy does appear to be improving at long last — albeit slowly. Here’s how you can tell. Corporations are finally reporting sales growth, not just better profits juiced by pink slips and other cost cuts. Honest-to-God revenue growth.
On Tuesday, for example, companies in a variety of industries reported that revenues were up at least 10% from a year ago, including Whirlpool, Dow Chemical and Fortune 500 homebuilder, D.R. Horton.
(Read more in CNN-Money)
New GE Renewable Energy Facility Brings 650 New Jobs
650 new jobs were brought to life a year ahead of schedule in Schenectady, NY at the “green ribbon” cutting on General Electric ‘s global headquarters for Renewable Energy. Doors opened on Monday at the state of the art facility, housed in a newly renovated 100 year-old warehouse on GE’s main campus.
Congressman Paul Tonko said, “This is a day of celebration. The winds of change are upon us, whereby we utilize our wind, our soil, our sun and our earth to make a difference to supply the energy needs of this nation and this world.” (CBS, Albany)