The unemployment rate held steady at 9.7 percent. That’s the first time the nation has gained, rather than lost, in jobs since late 2007, with the exception of November 2009, which many economists saw as a fluke.

Reversing the unrelenting jobs decline has been a central goal of the Obama administration, and it has been politically crucial for Democrats to demonstrate progress on the jobs front ahead of the midterm elections in November.

The news will not have an immediate effect on the stock market, where the Dow has been surging toward the psychologically important 11,000 marker this week because Wall Street is closed today for Good Friday.

The employment number was not high enough to beat expectations of many economists who were looking for a gain of 200,000 or more.

Many economists say that about 150,000 of the new jobs can be explained away by the combination of a bounce-back effect from the February snowstorms, as snowed in workers got back to their job sites in March and by massive temporary hiring by the U.S. Census of as many as 50,000 canvassers.

TO CONTINUE READING THIS ARTICLE, CLICK THIS LINK FOR POLITICO: Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0410/35325.html#ixzz0jxGzqGUQ

Jobs up, good news for President Obama – Eamon Javers – POLITICO.com.

In testimony before the House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday, Geithner read a joint statement — which he prepared with Christina Romer, chairwoman of the president’s Council of Economic Advisers, and Peter Orszag, director of the White House’s Office of Management and Budget — warning that the nation’s unemployment rate “is likely to remain elevated for an extended period. The forecast projects that in the fourth quarter of 2011, the unemployment rate will be 8.9%, and that by the fourth quarter of 2012, it will be 7.9%.”

Geithner called the current unemployment rate of 9.7% “unacceptable by any metric.” He testified that it usually takes the creation of more than 100,000 jobs per month to bring the unemployment rate down; the administration foresees job creation averaging 100,000 for the rest of 2010 — but doesn’t expect it to substantially exceed that. In fact, Geithner said, the jobless rate might even rise slightly over the next few months, as unemployed workers attempt to return to the labor force.

Geithner Warns Unemployment Will Stay High in 2010 – DailyFinance.

The Labor Department said Thursday that initial claims for unemployment insurance fell 29,000 to a seasonally adjusted 469,000. That nearly matches estimates of 470,000.

Still, improvement in the job market is likely to be slow, as companies remain reluctant to hire. Last week’s drop only partly reverses a sharp rise in claims in the previous two weeks.

Elsewhere:

• The number of buyers who agreed to buy previously occupied homes fell sharply in January, a sign that demand for housing sank this winter, although some say that is due to bad weather.

• Factory orders posted the biggest increase in four months in January, but demand was led by a surge in orders for commercial aircraft, a volatile category. Aircraft orders surged 118.6%; excluding transportation, orders were up a much more modest 0.1%.

TO CONTINUE READING THIS STORY, CLICK THIS LINK  FOR USA TODAY: Jobless claims drop, but economy still shows mixed results – USATODAY.com.

Is your industry on the decline? The federal government projects that a number of industries will lose jobs from 2008 to 2018.

“You can’t sit around and wait for news to come out about what’s going to happen to your industry,” said Alexandra Levit, author of “New Job, New You.” “You have to be proactive about this.”

Disappearing Jobs

Here’s a list of the top 10 industries expected to lose the most jobs by 2018 — and what to do if you’re working in one of them:

1. Department stores: Projected to lose 10.2 percent of the 1.56 million jobs they had in 2008.

TO CONTINUE READING THIS ARTICLE, CLICK THIS LINK TO YAHOO! JOBS: 10 Job Sectors in Decline- Yahoo! HotJobs.

The 62-30 vote to block a filibuster represented a victory for beleaguered Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who gambled that a handful of Republicans would cross party lines despite a year of partisan warfare.

“I believe this is the beginning of a new day in the Senate,” Reid said after the vote.

Along with a Social Security tax break to encourage businesses to hire workers, the $15-billion package would replenish the depleted Highway Trust Fund, which uses gasoline taxes to repair interstate roads; expand the Build America Bonds program, which helps state and local governments fund infrastructure projects; and allow small businesses to write off large equipment purchases immediately rather than depreciating them over several years.

TO CONTINUE READING THIS ARTICLE, CLICK THIS LINK FOR THE L.A. TIMES: Democrats block filibuster on scaled-back jobs bill – latimes.com.

Economists fear that the nascent recovery will leave more people behind than in past recessions, failing to create jobs in sufficient numbers to absorb the record-setting ranks of the long-term unemployed.

Call them the new poor: people long accustomed to the comforts of middle-class life who are now relying on public assistance for the first time in their lives — potentially for years to come.

Yet the social safety net is already showing severe strains. Roughly 2.7 million jobless people will lose their unemployment check before the end of April unless Congress approves the Obama administration’s proposal to extend the payments, according to the Labor Department.

Here in Southern California, Jean Eisen has been without work since she lost her job selling beauty salon equipment more than two years ago. In the several months she has endured with neither a paycheck nor an unemployment check, she has relied on local food banks for her groceries.

TO CONTINUE THIS ARTICLE, CLICK THIS LINK FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES: The New Poor – Despite Signs of Recovery, Long-Term Unemployment Rises – Series – NYTimes.com.

Still, with millions still out of work and losing patience, Obama acknowledged that to them, “It doesn’t yet feel like much of a recovery.”

Marking the anniversary of the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Obama aimed his message at people skeptical about the expensive relief measure and Republican lawmakers who voted against it and continue to hammer him about it.

To the public, Obama explained, as he has many times before, that the stimulus plan was composed of tax cuts for most Americans along with help for state governments, extended social service benefits and huge investments in energy, education and infrastructure.

“One year later, it is largely thanks to the recovery act that a second depression is no longer a possibility,” Obama said.

To his Republican critics, who say the bill was a costly, debt-financed blunder that has not delivered on the promise of job creation, Obama challenged them to take up the case with people who have stayed employed or have found help solely because he and the Democratic-run Congress acted.

FOR CONTINUATION OF THIS ARTICLE, CLICK THIS LINK FOR YAHOO!/AP: Obama says stimulus bill saved troubled economy – Yahoo! News.

In the statement, Obama said he told Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Tuesday that he would make recess appointments if Republican senators did not lift their holds.

“Since that meeting, I am gratified that Republican senators have responded by releasing many of these holds and allowing [the nominees] to receive a vote in the Senate,” Obama said.

So it’s all hopey, changey, biparty. But the Senate Democrats weren’t able to muster the 60 votes needed to get a vote on the nomination of labor lawyer Craig Becker to be chairman of the National Labor Relations Board. The arrival of newly elected Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) didn’t make any difference.

Democratic Sens. Blanche Lincoln (Ark.) and Ben Nelson (Neb.) also opposed the nomination, apparently after having discovered that Becker, associate general counsel to the Service Employees International Union, was actually a pro-union lawyer. Truly shocking. Who knew?

The labor folks take Obama’s statement to mean that there’ll be no recess appointment this round — meaning nothing at least until the next Senate recess, in late March — and thus the five-member NLRB, unable to function for more than a year with only two members, will continue to be crippled.

FOR CONTINUATION OF THIS ARTICLE, CLICK THIS LINK TO THE WASHINGTON POST: Al Kamen – After failed labor board nomination, unions not too happy with Obama – washingtonpost.com.

If the project goes forward, the reactors would be the first begun in the United States since the 1970s.

The announcement of the loan guarantee — $8.3 billion to help the Southern Company and two partners build twin reactors in Burke County — comes as the administration is courting Republican support for its climate and energy policies. With climate legislation stalled in the Senate and its prospects for success dim, Democrats are seeking new incentives to spur clean energy development and create jobs.

At the same time, the president’s embrace of nuclear energy has drawn the ire of environmental groups that have long opposed any return to a reliance on nuclear power.

In his speech, Mr. Obama portrayed the decision as part of a broad strategy to increase employment and the generation of clean power. But he also made clear that the move was a bid to gain Republican support for a broader energy bill.

“Those who have long advocated for nuclear power — including many Republicans — have to recognize that we will not achieve a big boost in nuclear capacity unless we also create a system of incentives to make clean energy profitable,” Mr. Obama said.

FOR CONTINUATION OF THIS ARTICLE, CLICK THIS LINK TOTHE NEW YORK TIMES: U.S. Approves Support to Build Nuclear Reactors in Georgia – NYTimes.com.

When employers hire temporary staff after a recession, it’s long been seen as a sign they’ll soon hire permanent workers.

Not these days.

Companies have hired more temps for four straight months. Yet they remain reluctant to make permanent hires because of doubts about the recovery’s durability.

Even companies that are boosting production seem inclined to get by with their existing workers, plus temporary staff if necessary.

“I think temporary hiring is less useful a signal than it used to be,” says John Silvia, chief economist at Wells Fargo. “Companies aren’t testing the waters by turning to temporary firms. They just want part-time workers.”

The reasons vary. But economists and business people say the main obstacle is that employers lack confidence that the economic rebound has staying power. Many fear their sales and the overall economy will remain weak or even falter as consumers spend cautiously.

Companies also worry about higher costs related to taxes or health care measures being weighed by Congress and statehouses. That’s what Chris DeCapua, owner of employment firm Dawson Careers in Columbus, Ohio, is hearing from clients.

FOR CONTINUATION OF THIS ARTICLE, CLICK THIS LINK FOR YAHOO! Use of temps may no longer signal permanent hiring – Yahoo! Finance.