Good news for us economy as unemployment drops

The nation’s unemployment rate slipped to 9 percent in January, a 0.4 percent decline from December, according to data released this morning by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

All told, the economy posted a modest net gain of 36,000 jobs for the month. Winners included the manufacturing and retail sectors, as construction, warehousing and transportation lost jobs.

The number of people unemployed dropped 600,000 to 13.9 million, the bureau reported. Speaking on the eve of the report, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke asserted Thursday that the economy is recovering, except for the unemployment situation. That too will improve, he said–but slowly.

In an address at the National Press Club, Bernanke said that “recently… we have seen increased evidence that a self-sustaining recovery in consumer and business spending may be taking hold. Improving household and business confidence, accommodative monetary policy, and more-supportive financial conditions, including an apparent increase in the willingness of banks to make loans, seem likely to lead to a more rapid pace of economic recovery in 2011 than we saw last year.”

Optimistic indeed, but for one thing. “Even so, with output growth likely to be moderate for a while and with employers reportedly still reluctant to add to their payrolls, it will be several years before the unemployment rate has returned to a more normal level,” the chairman continued.

“Until we see a sustained period of stronger job creation, we cannot consider the recovery to be truly established.” Perhaps a hint from the Fed chairman that recovery may not fully take hold until the third quarter.

Source: Commercial Property Executive