Unemployment Rate & Numbers 2014: American Job Hires Steady; After Immigration Reform, Economy is Latinos' Main Concern
Employers continued to hire more Americans in October, adding 214,000 jobs to continue the steady pace of employment, reported the Labor Department.
The agency said 31,000 more jobs were added in August and September than previously estimated. The revised figures show employers have hired at least 200,000 Americans for nine straight months, the longest stretch since 1995.
U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez said private employers had created 10.6 million new jobs over the last 56 months.
"But clearly there is still unease in American household from coast to coast -- and it comes from a very real place. There is still widespread economic inequality. Wages haven't kept pace with productivity," Perez said. "We are in the middle of the strongest run of private sector job growth in 16 years, but we need the same broadly shared prosperity that we had in the late 1990s. Today's rising tide is only lifting some boats, while too many others are struggling to stay above water. We have to do more."
For Latinos in a pre-election poll by Latino Decisions, 30 percent said the economy was the main concern of interest after immigration reform.
The White House released its analysis on employment. Most of the recent hiring has been in retail trade and hospitality services.
"With today's report, the unemployment rate is falling as fast as at any point in the last thirty years, and the economy is on pace for its best year of job growth since the late 1990s," said Jason Furman, the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, in a statement.
"The economy has come a long away since the crisis six years ago, but more must be done to create jobs for those still searching for work and ensure that those working see the strengthening economy translate into rising wages. The president will continue to work with Congress and do everything he can to support job creation and boost wages."
The hiring rate has lowered the unemployment rate to 5.8 percent from 5.9 percent -- the lowest rate since July 2008.
In a speech in Paris on Friday, Janet Yellen, the chair of the Federal Reserve, said the Federal Reserve is striving to communicate its intentions on interest rates to minimize surprises that could disrupt financial markets both in the United States and globally, reported The Associated Press.
Yellen said the central bank policymakers understand that moving from a period of very low interest rates to more normal levels of interest rates will lead to some heightened volatility in financial markets. But she said the normalization of rates will be an important sign that economic conditions are "finally emerging from the shadow of the Great Recession."
The Fed last week ended its bond buying program, but its first increase in rates is not expected until mid-2015.
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