Labor Market | featured news

Stocks are pulling back sharply on Wall Street as investors get their first chance to react to a slowdown in hiring in the United States in March. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 152 points to 12,908 shortly before noon Monday. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was off 18 at 1,380, and the Nasdaq composite lost 36 points to 3,044.

Private-sector jobs in the U.S. increased 209,000 last month, according to a national employment report published by payroll processor ADP. The gain was just above economists' median expectation of 200,000 contained in a survey done by Dow Jones Newswires.

Chairman Ben Bernanke says the U.S. job market remains weak despite three months of strong hiring and that the Federal Reserve's existing policies will help boost economic growth.

New claims for unemployment benefits dropped to a fresh four-year low last week, according to a government report on Thursday that offered evidence the jobs market recovery was gaining traction.

The number of people seeking unemployment benefits fell slightly last week to the lowest point in four years, a further sign that the U.S. job market is improving.

The number of people seeking unemployment benefits fell to the lowest point in almost four years last week, the latest signal that the job market is steadily improving.

Americans turned less optimistic about the economy in early February on worries about falling income even as their outlook on the jobs market rose to a record high, a survey released on Friday showed.

The number of Americans applying for first-time jobless benefits rose on Thursday, reversing a recent decline and suggesting the labor market remains brittle.

Amid signs that the overall jobs climate was improving, manufacturing stands out as an area of surprising strength.

The number of people seeking unemployment benefits fell further last week, ending the year on a three-month run of declines that point to stronger hiring in 2012. Weekly applications dropped by 15,000 to a seasonally adjusted 372,000 last week, the Labor Department said. That’s 11 percent lower than the same time last year and a positive sign ahead of Friday’s important read on December job growth.