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JOBS REPORT DEMOLISHES EXPECTATIONS, UNEMPLOYMENT FALLS TO 7.7%

Joe WeisenthalMar 8, 2013, 18:27 IST

Stuck in Customs / FlickrThe jobs number is out, and it's a big number!

236K new jobs came in WAY ahead of expectations of 165K.

Unemployment fell to 7.7%, down from 7.9%. That was totally unexpected.

This is a GREAT number.

Private payrolls jumped 246K.

That means that public sector cutting cost the US another 10K jobs this month.

The full report is here.

One really interesting sub-detail is the big spike in construction employment. Housing starts have been picking up for awhile, jobs in this area have been a little slow in coming.

One interesting, and slightly negative aspect of the report, is that the labor force participation rate actually fell.