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The American economy added 157,000 new jobs last month, but about 90,000 of those jobs were needed just to keep up with population growth, so net job growth was closer to 67,000 jobs. This was a little less than December’s number, which was revised upward to 196,000 (106,000 net). The unemployment number went up a few hundredths of a point thanks to re-benchmarking of BLS’s population estimates, which means the headline number ended up a tenth higher at 7.9 percent.
Down in the weeds, there were no big changes. Final revisions to the 2012 numbers were positive but modest. The economy continues to slog along.
