Unemployment Rate | featured news

In the wake of a new jobs report showing increased unemployment, President Obama today said the steps his administration has taken to improve the economy are working, but not fast enough. He called on Congress to pass a small business bill and said he would announce next week a broader set of ideas to accelerate job creation.

Private employers added 67,000 jobs, more than forecast, but governments shed jobs in August, the Labor Department reported.

Bankruptcy filings have reached the highest level since 2005, data released Tuesday show, as the economy slows and the unemployment rate hovers just below double digits.

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Politicians destroyed jobs when they increased the minimum wage by more than 40 percent over a three-year period.

Fed chief Bernanke expressed confidence to Congress that the unfolding economic recovery will have staying power, but not fast enough to relieve high unemployment quickly.

Though the unemployment rate remained steady at 9.7 percent, the overall employment picture was greatly improved, with positive revisions to January and February.

On the eve of the release of the latest unemployment numbers, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Thursday that the jobless rate would likely remain unacceptably high for a long time.

Economists had expected the snowstorms to have a bigger impact, but job losses were surprisingly mild in February as employers cut 36,000 jobs.

The nation's unemployment rate tumbled unexpectedly to 9.7% in January, first time it's fallen below double digits since September, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.

The economy's 5.7 percent growth last quarter - the fastest pace since 2003 - was a step toward shrinking the nation's 10 percent unemployment rate....