Jobs Report Proves the Economy Is on the Upswing

thedailybeast.com — It's important not to read too much into any single data point. The October jobs report, released Friday morning, is a positive data point. The economy added 171,000 positions, and the unemployment rate ticked up to 7.9 percent. But it also highlights some important positive trends in the long-suffering U.S. labor market. Here are a few important takeaways. After a lull, jobs growth seems to be accelerating. Payroll jobs are becoming more plentiful in the U.S. And that's hard to ignore. The U.S. economy added 171,000 payroll jobs in October, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. So far in 2012, the economy has added an average of 157,000 payroll positions per month; for the last four months, the economy has added over 170,000 payroll jobs per month. In other words, strength seems to be accelerating.

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