Figures released Friday by the ""U.S. Department of Labor"":http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm show that private employers added 159,000 new positions to their payrolls in October â€" the fastest pace of job growth in the private sector since April. The government, though, shed 8,000 jobs, for net employment growth of 151,000.
[IMAGE]The gain was much larger than analysts and economists had predicted, and the Labor Department also revised its numbers for August and September to reflect 110,000 fewer job losses for those months than previously reported.
Still, the nation's unemployment rate remained unchanged at 9.6 percent. It's the 15th straight month that the jobless rate has been at 9.5 percent or higher.
James Frischling, president and co-founder of the investment and asset management firm ""NewOak Capital"":http://www.newoakcapital.com/ says this is the longest stretch of such a high level of unemployment since 1948, when such record-keeping began.
[COLUMN_BREAK]The good news in the latest numbers is that the private sector is finally beginning to pull its weight when it comes to job creation.
Frischling's colleague, NewOak CEO and co-founder Ron D'Vari says before we see any real improvement in the faltering economy, not only will private employers need to continue to pick up the hiring pace, but the government will need to re-examine its policies, with an emphasis on housing.
""We need more private sector investment in the U.S., healthier monetary and fiscal policies, and better capitalized banks so they can lend to growing companies,"" D'Vari said. ""The current policies focus too much on creating artificial inflation through devaluation of currency and not enough on real growth through addressing fundamental issues such as the chaotic housing market.""
D'Vari continued, ""The U.S. mortgage market is facing a standoff between politicians, bankers, investors, borrowers, and the judicial system so nobody can guess how it will finally get resolved. The devaluation-induced inflation most likely will impact the commodities and consumers and may weaken the mortgagors further. Until we get the residential markets in the U.S. fixed and build more confidence in our fiscal and monetary policies direction, the prospects of real growth will be at best uncertain.""
""President Obama called"":http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/11/05/president-obama-october-jobs-report-encouraging-news-not-good-enough the October jobs report, “encouraging news†but “not good enough.â€Â