NELP: Despite Gains, Job Creation Remains No. 1 Priority for the Nation

February 1, 2013

The U.S. economy added 157,000 jobs in January, and the unemployment rate ticked up slightly to 7.9 percent. The positive news in Friday’s report helps offset disturbing reports earlier in the week that GDP declined at the end of last year, for the first time since mid-2009, and that weekly unemployment claims had jumped substantially after several weeks of sustained decline.