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Aiming to show he's still focused on creating jobs, President Barack Obama is beginning a series of quick trips around the country to resurrect ideas from his State of the Union address that became overshadowed by the intense debates over gun control, immigration and automatic spending cuts.

The resurgent U.S. housing market has sent builders calling again for Richard Vap, who owns a drywall installation company. Vap would love to help - if he could hire enough qualified people. "There is a shortage of manpower," says Vap, owner of South Valley Drywall in Littleton, Colo. "We're probably only hiring about 75 or 80 percent of what we actually need."

The job market plugged along steadily, and unemployment fell in April, according to new data out Friday, suggesting that the U.S. economy is still expanding. The nation added 165,000 jobs in April as the unemployment rate fell to 7.5 percent, from 7.6 percent in March, the Labor Department said on Friday. The news was particularly welcome after a mere 88,000 jobs were initially reported to have been added in March; the new report revised that estimate to a healthier 138,000, suggesting that the labor market isn't slumping as much as it had appeared.

The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell to the lowest level in more than five years, a positive signal for the labor market ahead of Friday's April jobs report.

Unemployment rates fell in nearly 90 percent of large U.S. cities in March, though most of the declines likely occurred because more Americans stopped looking for work, rather than found jobs.

I was quite excited to see Meghan Casserly’s report this week on the way the freelance revolution is closing the gender gap in jobs and earnings for women. Then I received a message from Freelancer.com with their newest research on the top online jobs for 2013 overall.

U.S. employers added just 88,000 jobs in March, the fewest in nine months and a sharp retreat after a period of strong hiring. The slowdown may signal that the economy is heading into a weak spring. The Labor Department said Friday that the unemployment rate dipped to 7.6 percent, the lowest in four years, from 7.7 percent. But the rate fell only because more people stopped looking for work. People who are out of work are no longer counted as unemployed once they stop looking for a job.

Private employers added 158,000 jobs in March, the smallest gain in five months and falling short of economists' expectations, a report by a payrolls processor showed on Wednesday. Economists surveyed by Reuters had forecast the ADP National Employment Report would show a gain of 200,000 jobs.

Teenagers looking to make some money this summer could have an easier time finding a job than in recent years, if the economic momentum of the last few months holds up. That would be a welcome turn of events for the youngest generation of workers, who have had an incredibly tough time finding work after so many years of a weak economy.

US President Barack Obama appeals for private funds for infrastructure projects, in a bid to create jobs without adding to the budget deficit.