I posted several times here on the disturbing hundreds of thousands of jobs lost per month as we fell into the great recession in late 2008 and early 2009. So it’s a relief to see that last month the economy added jobs. I got this from MSNBC, with thanks to Steve King of SmallBizLabs, who passed it on via Twitter:
The Labor Department said employers added 162,000 jobs in March, the most since the recession began. Private employers added 123,000 jobs, the most since May 2007.
The department also revised January’s job total to show a gain of 14,000, up from a previously reported loss of 26,000. February’s job numbers were also revised higher by 22,000 to show a loss of 14,000. The economy has now added jobs in three separate months since the recession began.
Sure, it’s hardly time to celebrate, with unemployment still 9.7 percent nationwide, and 15 million people out of work since the recession began in late 2007. But it’s sure a lot better than losing more than 600,000 jobs in a month not that long ago. Maybe we can think of it as a storm starting to clear, like in this picture:
(Image: Leonid Tit/Shutterstock)
Tim Berry is the founder and chairman of Palo Alto Software and Bplans.com. Follow him on Twitter @Timberry.
