Some Good News at Last

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today that the private sector added 159,000 jobs in October and the unemployment rate held steady at 9.6 percent.

Today’s gain in private-sector jobs is a welcome surprise, marking three months in a row of more positive gains in private service employment across the retail and other sectors. The gains still aren’t enough to drive unemployment lower but may provide a boost to income for the month of October as well as to prospects for holiday spending. The longer-term question is whether this more favorable news in the labor market will continue after holiday temp workers leave the payroll. This is still a very weak economy in post-recessionary slow expansion. The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® for the United States suggests that overall economic growth will stay sluggish through early 2011.