美国政府报告说，上个月美国的就业数量激增，接近25万人。上个月的失业率也因此下跌至8.3%， 为近3年以来的最低水平。
美国劳工部周五公布了1月份的就业报告。报告显示，一月份新增加工作24.3万个。去年12月的数字是20万。一月份的数字为九个月来最高的，大大地超过了经济学家先前的预期。
分析人士说，报告预示美国缓慢的经济复苏的步伐可能要比先前预想的要快。
就业报告和失业率也许已经成为衡量目前正在缓慢前进的美国经济的两个最重要的晴雨表。美联储主席伯南克这个星期说，美国从2007年到2009年的经济衰退中复苏的步伐“慢得令人沮丧”，并且表示今年的增长率很可能低于2.7%。
这次衰退是美国70年来最严重的经济衰退。
但是，一月份的就业报告以及失业率出人意料的下降也可能增加了总统奥巴马获得连任的机会。身为民主党人的奥巴马在今年11月的大选中寻求第二个四年任期。
争夺共和党总统候选人提名的两位主要竞争者，风险投资家罗姆尼和前众议院议长金里奇经常对总统的经济政策进行口头上的抨击，并要求减少政府对企业的监管，刺激美国经济增长。
The U.S. says its labor market surged last month, with nearly a quarter million workers added to company payrolls, and that its unemployment rate fell ((two tenths of a percentage point)) to 8.3 percent, the lowest in almost three years.
In its closely watched monthly report, the government said Friday that 243,000 jobs were added to the economy, a month after the world's largest economy recorded 200,000 new jobs. The January figure -- the biggest addition in nine months -- substantially exceeded the early estimates of economists. Analysts said the report signaled that the sluggish U.S. economic recovery might be advancing at a faster pace than first thought.
Investors seemed heartened by the favorable news, boosting major U.S. stock indexes by more than one percent in early New York trading.
The jobs report and the jobless rate have perhaps become the two most important barometers of the sluggishly advancing American economy. Central bank chief Ben Bernanke said this week that the recovery from the nation's 2007 to 2009 recession, its worst economic downturn in seven decades, has been been "frustratingly slow" and is likely to advance by no more than 2.7 percent this year.
But the January jobs report -- and the unexpected drop in the jobless rate from December's 8.5 percent figure -- could boost the re-election prospects for U.S. President Barack Obama, a Democrat seeking a second four-year term in the national election next November. The two leading contenders seeking the Republican nomination to oppose him -- one-time venture capitalist Mitt Romney and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich -- have regularly unleashed verbal assaults on the president's handling of the economy, calling for less government regulation of American corporations as a way to boost the country's economic fortunes.