A surge in hiring points to a real recovery

The Labor Department’s jobs report for January showed that employers added a net of 243,000 jobs—the largest gain in nine months.

What happened

A surprisingly strong month of hiring by private businesses sparked hopes this week that the U.S. economic recovery was now shifting into a higher gear, sending stock prices soaring and giving a big boost to President Obama’s re-election campaign. The Labor Department’s jobs report for January showed that employers added a net of 243,000 jobs—the largest gain in nine months. The unemployment rate fell to 8.3 percent, down from a high of 10 percent in 2009. Job gains for previous months were also revised up, from 200,000 to 203,000 in December, and from 100,000 to 157,000 in November. President Obama said that the report proved his administration had turned the economy around. “I deserve a second term, but we’re not done,” he said. “[In 2009] we were losing 750,000 jobs a month. Now we’re creating 250,000.” All told, the economy has generated 3.7 million new jobs since the recovery began, 23 months ago.

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