As the Labor Department reported, employers added 163,000 jobs last month -- far more than the 100,000 forecast and the biggest gain since February. But the nation's unemployment rate ticked up to 8.3 percent. Here are four pieces of good news buried in the report.
There's no question the United States has a jobs crisis, with an unemployment rate of 9.1% and millions of workers out of a job for more than a year. But a state-by-state view shows that parts of the country are in less dire shape. For today's job seekers, the biggest question may not be if you want a new job, but where are you willing to go to find one?
At Mo'joe Cafe in Berkeley, CA, customers huddle over their laptops and lattes, searching for jobs or working remotely as contractors. But business overall -- meaning mainly the "morning rush" -- is slow, and has been since the economic downturn. Could coffee sales be an index of economic health?
Two consecutive months of sales gains among the nation's retailers may provide just enough confidence to trigger increased seasonal hiring this year. Even so, pre-recession hiring levels aren't likely.
For married couples of opposite genders, the downturn's inordinate impact on men has resulted in an increasing number of wives becoming the primary breadwinner. Surprisingly, many men don't mind at all.
It's been a big week for Monster.com. The job search site will gain thousands of new business customers through its purchase of HotJobs, and it unveiled the latest upgrades to its technology for precisely matching the right jobs seekers with its customers' jobs.
The Internet can be a great resource for people who are looking for work, but there's a downside to using the Web too. Scams targeting job hunters pose all kinds of threats -- from identity theft to phony fees to fraud -- that take advantage of people when they are at their most vulnerable.