WASHINGTON -- A better-than-expected government jobs report Friday strengthened the growing consensus that the worst economic downturn in generations is nearing an end, and may even have ended already.
While economists warned, however, that there's a long way to go before job growth rebounds along with the slowly expanding economy, President Barack Obama voiced cautious optimism.
"Today, we're pointed in the right direction," he said in a Rose Garden appearance. "We're losing jobs at less than half the rate we were when I took office. We pulled the financial system back from the brink."
Employers shed 247,000 jobs in July, the Labor Department said, highlighting the best monthly performance since last August. In a separate measure, the agency reported that the nation's unemployment rate fell to 9.4% from 9.5% -- the first drop since April 2008.
In another bright sign, Labor statisticians revised earlier reports to show that job losses in the previous two months weren't as bad as initially had been estimated. Losses in May and June were revised to 303,000 and 443,000, respectively, from 322,000 and 467,000.
Forecasters had expected about 320,000 lost jobs in July and an uptick in the unemployment rate. After last week's report of a smaller-than-expected economic contraction at a 1% annual rate from April through June, Friday's numbers raised hopes that the recession is ending.
The forecasting group RDQ Economics in New York said in a note to investors: "The case that the recession ended in June continues to grow with this report."
Other economists voiced more shaded degrees of enthusiasm.
"The economy is still shedding jobs, but the pace of decline is slowing, consistent with the view that output has hit bottom," Nigel Gault, the chief U.S. economist for forecaster IHS Global Insight, wrote in a research note.
"Obviously, we are not out of the woods yet and must confront continued job losses and a sluggish recovery," said Lawrence Mishel, the president of the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal policy-research group.
Jobs report strengthens turnaround hopes | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press
While economists warned, however, that there's a long way to go before job growth rebounds along with the slowly expanding economy, President Barack Obama voiced cautious optimism.
"Today, we're pointed in the right direction," he said in a Rose Garden appearance. "We're losing jobs at less than half the rate we were when I took office. We pulled the financial system back from the brink."
Employers shed 247,000 jobs in July, the Labor Department said, highlighting the best monthly performance since last August. In a separate measure, the agency reported that the nation's unemployment rate fell to 9.4% from 9.5% -- the first drop since April 2008.
In another bright sign, Labor statisticians revised earlier reports to show that job losses in the previous two months weren't as bad as initially had been estimated. Losses in May and June were revised to 303,000 and 443,000, respectively, from 322,000 and 467,000.
Forecasters had expected about 320,000 lost jobs in July and an uptick in the unemployment rate. After last week's report of a smaller-than-expected economic contraction at a 1% annual rate from April through June, Friday's numbers raised hopes that the recession is ending.
The forecasting group RDQ Economics in New York said in a note to investors: "The case that the recession ended in June continues to grow with this report."
Other economists voiced more shaded degrees of enthusiasm.
"The economy is still shedding jobs, but the pace of decline is slowing, consistent with the view that output has hit bottom," Nigel Gault, the chief U.S. economist for forecaster IHS Global Insight, wrote in a research note.
"Obviously, we are not out of the woods yet and must confront continued job losses and a sluggish recovery," said Lawrence Mishel, the president of the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal policy-research group.
Jobs report strengthens turnaround hopes | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press
