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157,000 jobs created in January as Dow Jones passes 14,000.
The US economy added 157,000 jobs during January, figures released on Friday reveal.
Coming soon after the news that the national economy contracted by 0.1% in 2012 and on the day that the Dow Jones Industrial Average index passed 14,000, the job figures have added further uncertainty regarding the condition of the US economy.
The official figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics reveal though that unemployment rose to 7.9% and that the US economy had created a total of 166,000, but this figure is off-set against 9,000 federal government redundancies.
Seeing a gain of 14009.21, 1.08%, to 14009.79 the Dow Jones index is less than 155 points from its pre-sovereign debt crisis high of October 2007, after which it fell to a ten-year low of 6,837.
Clem Chambers, CEO of private investor’s website ADVFN, argues that the Dow Jones passing 14,000 could be start of period of “meaningful all-time highs” for the index.
“The thing to bear in mind is the leg up like the initial 1980s to 2000 bull run, is not impossible. In fact, all it would take to repeat is high inflation. So my prediction is direction and the direction is up” said Mr Chambers.
Commentating on the unemployment figures Alan Kruger, Chief Economic Advisor to President Obama, said that whilst “more work remains to be done, today’s employment report provides further evidence that the US economy is continuing to heal from the wounds inflicted by the worst downturn since the Great Depression.”
Arguing that the US Government needed to continue to support economic recovery Mr Kruger said it was “critical that we pursue the policies needed to build an economy that works for the middle class as we continue to dig our way out of the deep hole that was caused by the severe recession that began in December 2007.”
Political division between Republican and Democrat lawmakers on how to restore the economy could cause “self-inflicted wounds to the economy”, argued Mr Kruger who insisted that the Obama administration “continues to urge Congress to move toward a sustainable Federal budget in a responsible way that balances revenue and spending, and replaces the sequester, while making critical investments in the economy that promote growth and job creation and protect our most vulnerable citizens”.
