Is the Economy Beginning to Recover?

The nation added nearly 160,000 new jobs in October 2010, reports the Labor Department- a small, but welcome change to employment figures that have showcased months of job loss.
President Obama says that he is pleased with the report and that the monthly job growth is good, but "not good enough.

" Economists were both fairly surprised and encouraged by exactly how many jobs were added.
Forecasters had anticipated a "net increase of about 60,000 jobs" following September's net loss of some 40,000 jobs.

And, while the private sector has shown consistent job growth within the past 10 months, local, state and federal government sectors have continued to struggle. A total of 860,000 new jobs have been added to the American economy in 2010, but the job growth momentum has still been unable to change the 9.

6% national unemployment rate. Says Obama, "the fact is, an encouraging jobs report doesn't make a difference if you're still one of the millions of people who are looking for work.

" Caution to the wind, in light of October's employment statistics the nation remains hesitantly hopeful. The industries that provided the biggest boosts in employment were health services and education with a combined 53,000 new positions. The retail sector added 28,000 jobs while temp services added almost 35,000 positions.

The healthcare sector is projected to continue its growth spurt, and, by 2018 should be one of the leading industries and largest employers.
Although economic forecasters project that it may take several years for the economy to fully recover and for available jobs to meet the demand of a growing labor force, employment opportunities and growth on a smaller scale have been immensely favorable and will, to the hopes of many, continue on their upward swing.