U.S. unemployment down, 243,000 jobs added | News

(ATLANTA BUSINESS CHRONICLE) -- The U.S. unemployment rate fell in January for a fifth straight month, to 8.3 percent, as the economy added nearly a quarter-million jobs.

The jobless rate -- down from December's 8.5 percent -- is the lowest in almost three years. The rate is now eight-tenths of a percentage point under what it was last August, the U.S. Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics reported.

BLS' separate survey of employers showed that nonfarm payroll jobs rose by 243,000 last month, with businesse adding 257,000 positions and a slight drop in private-sector employment.

Many economists had expected less payroll growth, according to surveys.

It said that private-sector job growth was widespread in January, with large increases in professional and business services as well as leisure, hospitality and manufacturing.

It was the fourth straight month of job gains nationwide.

Paul Ashworth, U.S. economist for Capital Economics, called the new report "unequivocally strong and points to a rapidly improving labor market."

But Ashworth cautioned that he and his colleagues are "still skeptical. We've been here before with 200,000-plus monthly gains in payrolls in spring 2010 and spring 2011 that ultimately came to nothing."

"With housing still in the dumps, fiscal policy being tightened and the eurozone crisis likely to flare up again at any moment, we still think the U.S. will endure another year of weak growth in output and employment," he added.

And the labor force participation rate fell to 63.7 percent.

According to the latest data from the Georgia Department of Labor, metro Atlanta's unemployment rate rose 0.2 points to 9.4 percent in December 2011 due to layoffs in construction, manufacturing, retail trade, administrative and support services, and accommodations and food services.

Georgia's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dipped in December for the third straight month, dropping to 9.7 percent, the GDOL reported.