May 07, 2004
288,000 New Jobs Created; Over 600,000 in 60 Days
Over One Million Jobs in Past 8 Months
Demand For Gold-Plated Diapers Surges, Sending Prices Skyrocketing
WASHINGTON (AP) - Employers added 288,000 jobs to their payrolls in April as the nation's unemployment rate slipped to 5.6 percent, reinforcing hopes for a sustained turnaround in the jobs market that had lagged for so long.
Payrolls have risen now for eight straight months, with 867,000 new jobs created so far this year, the Labor Department reported Friday. The strengthening jobs market comes just in time to aid President Bush's re-election efforts, which were in question a few months ago based on his economic record.
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"I'm officially declaring the jobless recovery dead," said Ken Mayland, president of ClearView Economics. "I think we are now on a path of what will be substantial job gains."
Bush is on track to be the first president since the Great Depression to have lost jobs under his watch. But the hiring gains in recent months have shrunk those losses to about 1.5 million. His administration was widely criticized for an overly optimistic forecast that 2.6 million new jobs would be created this year. Economists now say the chugging economy could get close to that mark.
"I don't think these two months of big increases are a flash in pan," Mayland said of April's job growth and the revised 337,000 new jobs in March.
In related news, John Kerry has stopped promsing people jobs, and has instead begun promising each and every American voter "a brand new car and a handjob from a cheerleader."
Posted by Ace at May 7, 2004 05:15 PM | TrackBack