Recent Entries

(We updated the top of this post at 10:15 a.m. ET.)

The U.S. economy produced several hundred thousand more jobs than previously thought in 2011 and 2012 even as the nation's jobless rate remained stuck at a relatively high level, new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show.

While BLS said the unemployment rate ticked up to 7.9 percent in January from 7.8 percent the month before, it also reported that:

— Revisions based on data from unemployment insurance tax records indicate there were 422,000 more jobs on public and private payrolls in the spring of 2012 than initially thought.

— In December 2012 alone, public and private employers increased their payrolls by 196,000 jobs, an upward revision from the agency's initial estimate of 155,000.

— And in November, employers' payrolls expanded by 247,000 jobs. That's well above the previous estimate of 161,000.

The bureau's data on payroll employment and the jobless rate often seem to be in at least some disagreement. In part that's because they're based on different surveys — one of employers to determine the number of jobs and one of households to calculate the unemployment rate.

Economists say the figures can also seem to move in opposite directions because as hiring begins to pick up, people who had been too discouraged to look for work return to the labor force. That can expand the rolls of those in the ranks of the unemployed.

Overall, Credit Suisse economist Jonathan Basile tells Bloomberg News, the data seem to be saying that "improvement in the labor market is continuing."

And The Wall Street Journal notes that thanks to revisions in the late 2012 payroll figures:

"The average monthly jobs gain for 2012 bounces up to a healthy 181,000. ... Zoom out a bit, and for statistical nerds, that's noteworthy, pushing 2012 just ahead of 2011's monthly average of 175,000 new jobs. It's also enough to make 2012 the best year for job growth since 2005 — before anyone on Main Street knew what a CDO was."