337,000 New Jobs Created, Most in Seven Months

Too bad today didn't come last Friday or the election would have been over by 9pm sharp:

WASHINGTON — The number of new jobs soared in October by the highest amount in seven months, the government said Friday, helped by a surge in construction as hurricane-racked areas in the Southeast were rebuilt. A surprisingly strong 337,000 jobs were added to payrolls last month — twice the 169,000-job growth that economists had forecast and the strongest since March, when 353,000 jobs were created, the Labor Department said.

The unemployment rate edged up to 5.5% from 5.4% in September, but that was because more people were looking for jobs, a potentially hopeful sign. Economists had expected the jobless rate to hold steady at 5.4%.

Not only was October strong, but the number of jobs created in the two prior months was revised up — to 139,000 in September fromf 96,000 and to 198,000 in August from 128,000.

Gold-plated diapers, babies.

Thanks to AS, BMC, and of course Deep Stoat for the tip.

MORE! INDC Journal crunches the numbers. Bush is ending up with positive job growth in his first term.

posted by Ace at 11:30 AM

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