"Harry Krause" wrote in message
news:c3dhc2g=.e3173c7804238f91ecc7925a91375559@108 0916509.nulluser.com...
NOYB wrote:

Businesses Add 308,000 Jobs in March

Friday, April 02, 2004



WASHINGTON - U.S. employment rose last month at the fastest pace in
nearly
four years, easily outstripping expectations, as workers returned after
a
grocery store strike and construction hiring bounced back on better
weather,
a government report on Friday showed.


Do you even read what gets you excited before you post it?






The latest report from the Labor Department offered comfort to President
George W. Bush (search) as the jobs market - a hot political issue in
the
U.S. presidential campaign - finally made a decisive break to the
upside.

Non-farm payrolls climbed 308,000 in March, the Labor Department said,
the
biggest gain since April 2000 and well above the 103,000 rise expected
on
Wall Street.

The unemployment rate ticked up to 5.7 percent from the two-year low
of 5.6
percent seen in January and February.


Unemployment rate is up - again.

BLS calls it "no change".





Upward revisions to January and February payrolls helped contribute to
the
positive tone of the report, which could fuel expectations that the
Federal
Reserve may be closer to raising overnight interest rates from their
current
1958 low of 1 percent than had been thought.

The March rise in payrolls reflected the resolution of a labor dispute
at
grocery stores in southern California that had idled 72,000 workers. The
department said the return of those workers helped fuel a 47,000
increase in
retail employment last month, but it did not quantify the impact.



The rise in payrolls is due mostly to the return of 72,000 strikers?
And you think that is a gain in jobs?

308k-72k=236,000

The rise in payrolls of 236,000 jobs is a pretty significant gain in jobs.
Regardless, when those guys went on strike, it counted *against* employment
numbers...and the Dems had no problem counting them among the "unemployed"
at that time. Now that they're back to work, you guys say that they
shouldn't count!?!?

The economy has been expanding for over a year...and jobs have been
increasing for 7 straight months. Half a million jobs have been gained this
year. Spin all you want, but that's terricific economic news.