02/04/2011 - The U.S. economy sent mixed signals Friday when the Labor Department reported that the nation added a paltry 36,000 new jobs in January, far below the 145,000 that were expected under the already diminished expectations of the painstakingly slow recovery.
Private-sector employers added an estimated 50,000 jobs last month - the smallest increase since May 2010 - at the same time that local, state and federal government agencies shed 14,000 jobs.
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What's more, 30% of those counted as unemployed have been jobless for a year or longer, which is the highest percentage since World War II and translates into about 4.2 million people, or roughly the population of the state of Kentucky, according to a report last week from the Pew Fiscal Analysis Initiative in Washington, D.C.
Read the article Jobs Report Contains Mixed Signals in its entirety on the Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel Web site.