In contrast to the disappointing GDP figure released earlier in the week, the January unemployment figures released this morning by the Bureau of Labor Statistics show the economy to be continuing along as it has been for months now. We added 157,000 new jobs in January, and the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 7.9 percent.
Perhaps more significant is that the numbers for the previous two months were revised upward significantly. December's new job output, previously reported at 155,000, is now thought to have been 196,000, and the November jobs figure has been revised from 161,000 to 247,000.
Those two monthly revisions were enough to make a significant change to the overall new jobs rate of 2012. Initially, just after the year ended, the BLS reported that the economy had added 153,000 new jobs per month over the course of the year. But today's revisions mean that the number is now being reported as 181,000 new jobs per month.
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