Economy, Unemployment Rate | featured news

Though the unemployment rate remained steady at 9.7 percent, the overall employment picture was greatly improved, with positive revisions to January and February.

On the eve of the release of the latest unemployment numbers, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Thursday that the jobless rate would likely remain unacceptably high for a long time.

Economists had expected the snowstorms to have a bigger impact, but job losses were surprisingly mild in February as employers cut 36,000 jobs.

The nation's unemployment rate tumbled unexpectedly to 9.7% in January, first time it's fallen below double digits since September, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.

The economy's 5.7 percent growth last quarter - the fastest pace since 2003 - was a step toward shrinking the nation's 10 percent unemployment rate....

The jobless rate creeps up from 12.3% in November as employers lay off 38,800 workers in December, capping a dismal year in which the state lost more than half a million jobs.

California employers cut more workers from their staffs in December, capping a dismal year in which the state lost more than half a million jobs.

The government said the economy shed 85,000 jobs last month, surprising forecasters, while the unemployment rate held steady at 10 percent.

California's unemployment rate fell in November, another sign that a recovery is underway, even as the state shed jobs from its payrolls.

The state's unemployment rate slid to 12.3%, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported this morning, down from 12.5% the month before. It is one of 36 states that saw unemployment rates decline in November.

Unemployment will top out this month at 12.7%, but the recovery will take years, UCLA economists say.

California's jobless rate is close to peaking, but the recovery will be sluggish, with employers not expected to resume hiring until at least next spring, according to new forecasts by UCLA and other analysts.

U.S. job losses slowed sharply in November and the unemployment rate unexpectedly declined, in a sign the labor market is finally starting to heal.