January unemployment rate drops to 9.7%

USATODAY:

The unemployment rate dropped unexpectedly in January to 9.7% from 10% while employers shed 20,000 jobs, the government said Friday.

The rate dropped because a survey of households found the number of employed Americans rose by 541,000, the Labor Department said. The job losses are calculated from a separate survey of employers… Aside from November’s gain, January’s job losses were the smallest since the recession began. Employers cut 779,000 jobs in January 2009.

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