Lower Jobless Rate Points to U.S. Payroll Gains
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The plunge in U.S. unemployment over the past two months indicates payrolls are about to pick up, or may already have, economists said.
The jobless rate unexpectedly dropped by 0.4 percentage point in January for a second month, bringing it down to 9 percent, the lowest level since April 2009, the Labor Department’s survey of households showed today in Washington. The survey showed employment climbed by 589,000, swamping the 36,000 increase in payrolls reported by the government’s separate poll of employers.