Business
US Job Market Improves As Unemployment Falls
The American job market improved modestly in October and economists looking deeper into the numbers found reasons for optimism , or at least what counts for optimism in this agonizingly slow economic recovery, the Associated Press reports.
The nation added 80,000 jobs. That was fewer than the 100,000 that economists expected, but it was the 13th consecutive month of job gains. Fears of a new recession that loomed over the economy this summer have receded.
The unemployment rate nudged down, to 9 per cent from 9.1 in September.
“Those are pretty good signs,” said Michael Hanson, senior economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. “We’re hanging in there.”
No one looking at Friday’s report from the Labor Department saw a quick end to the high unemployment that has plagued the nation for three years. The jobless rate has been 9 percent or higher for all but two months since June 2009.
The government uses a survey of mostly large companies and government agencies to determine how many jobs were added or lost each month. It uses a separate survey of households to determine the unemployment rate.
The household survey picked up a much bigger job gain, 277,000 in October, and an average of 335,000 per month for the last three months. The household survey picks up hiring by companies of all sizes, including small businesses.
The household survey is more volatile and less comprehensive than the other survey, and is not followed as closely by economists. Still, job growth in the household survey has not been this strong for three months since the end of 2006.
People counting themselves self-employed increased by 200,000 in October, accounting for most of the increase, but it is difficult for economists to explain the three-month trend.
The job market turned consistently negative in February 2008. The nation lost jobs for 25 months in a row, almost 8.8 million in all. Since then, the economy has only recovered 2.3 million jobs. The adult nonmilitary population has grown 7.5 million.
The Federal Reserve earlier this week lowered its economic forecast for the rest of this year, and said unemployment is not expected to fall significantly through the end of next year. It should still be at 8 per cent even through 2013, the Fed said.
President Barack Obama will almost certainly go before voters next November with the highest unemployment of any sitting president seeking re-election since World War II. The highest so far was Gerald Ford, who faced 7.8 per cent unemployment in 1976 and lost to Jimmy Carter. Ronald Reagan faced 7.2 per cent unemployment in 1984 and beat Walter Mondale in a landslide.
Obama, appearing at the G-20 economic summit in Cannes, France, said the U.S. economy is growing “way too slow.” He repeated his call for Republicans in Congress to pass his $447 billion jobs bill, a mix of tax cuts and spending on roads and rail lines.
“There’s no excuse for inaction,” the president said.
On Thursday, Republicans in the Senate blocked a $60 billion measure for building and repairing infrastructure, the third in a string of defeats for Obama’s jobs agenda. Republicans opposed it because it was tied to a tax surcharge for the wealthy and because they said it cost too much.
Republicans laid blame on Obama and Democrats in Congress for the economy’s problems.
“At virtually every step of the way, President Obama and Democrats have increased uncertainty,” said Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas. “This has discouraged businesses from making new investments.”
Hiring last month was broad. Professional and business services, which include the accounting, engineering and temporary-help industries, added 32,000 jobs. Hotels, restaurants and entertainment companies added 22,000. Health care added 12,000.
The construction industry cut 20,000 jobs for the month, the most since January. That industry is examined closely because a pickup in the housing market could add force to the economic recovery.
The private sector added 104,000 jobs for the month, but state and local governments cut 24,000 jobs, resulting in the net increase of 80,000. State and local governments have cut 288,000 jobs this year. That’s unusual for an economic recovery, when state, local and federal governments typically are hiring workers.
But as the economy recovers and they receive more tax revenue, those layoffs should be limited in the months ahead, said Carl Riccadonna, senior U.S. economist at Deutsche Bank.
The number of discouraged workers, those who have given up looking for work and are no longer counted as unemployed, is down 47,000 from last year, at about 2.55 million. And there were fewer people with part-time jobs who were looking for full-time work, another positive sign.
The economy grew at an annual rate of 2.5 percent in July, August and September, its best performance in a year. In the first half of this year, the economy expanded at the slowest pace since the Great Recession ended in June 2009.
The stronger economy over the summer was powered by consumer spending, which grew three times as fast as it had this spring. Americans spent more even in the face of fears of a new recession and wild gyrations in the stock market.
Still, companies appear to be waiting for customer demand to pick up even more before they hire again in great numbers. People have been dipping into savings to finance their spending, and that may not be sustainable.
Companies learned during and after the recession to live with fewer employees. Worker productivity rose from July through September by the most in a year and a half. More productivity is usually good because companies can pay workers more without raising prices. But workers generally are not getting raises this time.
The Federal Reserve this week lowered its forecast of economic growth to 1.7 percent for this year, down from a forecast of 2.7 percent issued over the summer. It also says unemployment will not come down substantially through the end of 2012.
The economy has absorbed a series of body blows this year.
In the spring, the devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan disrupted manufacturing of cars and other products in this country. The price of gas rose to a national average of almost $4 a gallon.
Then in the summer, Washington was seized by gridlock over whether to raise the borrowing limit for the federal government and how best to tackle the nation’s long-term debt problem.
More recently, economists have fretted over a debt crisis in Europe. Europe buys 20 percent of American exports, so a slowdown there would take a bite out of the U.S. economy, too.
The Greek prime minister this week called for a surprise popular vote on a European plan to bail out the debt-addled Greek economy. He later backed down, but even if Greece is stabilized, other European economies are weighed down by debt.
Business in Nigeria remain under pressure as a result of insecurity and erratic power supply which continue to stifle productivity in the country.
This is even as new data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) indicate sustained improvements in economic activity.
This was the response of businesses in the CBN’s October 2025 Business Expectations Survey (BES) and the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) report.
While the PMI showed that economic activity expanded for the 11th consecutive month, the BES revealed that businesses are still grappling with crippling operational constraints that threaten to reverse recent macroeconomic gains.
According to the BES conducted between October 6 and 10, firms identified insecurity (71.8 points) as the most critical challenge affecting operations nationwide. This was closely followed by insufficient power supply (70.9 points), multiple taxation (70.2 points), high interest rates (68.4 points) and financial constraints (65.6 points). Analysts say these constraints underscore the depth of structural weaknesses confronting Nigeria’s private sector.
Despite these challenges, the survey reported a rise in business optimism. The Business Confidence Index increased to 38.5 points in October from 31.5 in September. Firms also projected confidence levels to reach 45.6 points in November, with expectations of further improvement over the next three to six months.
However, sector analysts warn that the optimism remains fragile due to the lack of significant improvements in the operating environment.
The BES further showed a modest rise in capacity utilisation from 60.4% in September to 62.0% in October, suggesting that businesses have yet to deploy their productive capacity amid ongoing disruptions fully.
In contrast to the structural constraints highlighted in the BES, the PMI report indicated strengthening economic momentum. The composite PMI rose to 55.4 points, reflecting expansion across major components such as output, new orders, employment, inventories, and supplier delivery times.
A sectoral breakdown showed that the agriculture sector recorded the most substantial improvement, with its PMI climbing to 57.5 points, marking 15 consecutive months of expansion. The services sector also expanded for the ninth straight month to 55.6 points, while the industry sector rose to 54.2 points, the highest in more than a year.
The CBN attributed the positive trends to improvements in the broader macroeconomic landscape, including declining inflation, which eased from 24.5% in January to 18.0% in September, and the year-to-date appreciation of the naira across both official and parallel markets.
The BES showed that the North-East posted the highest business confidence at 56.1 points, while the South-South recorded the lowest at 23.3 points, a trend linked to declining activity in oil-producing communities.
The Federal Government will on Tuesday, November 25, officially unveil a strategic programme for a free nationwide training of over 100,000 youth on financial literacy.
The Federal Ministry of Youth Development will launch the programme in collaboration with Investonaire Academy. Tagged, the “Financial Literacy, Investment, and Wealth Creation programme.”
The flagship initiative is designed to equip young Nigerians with essential financial skills, investment knowledge, and digital competencies for sustainable wealth creation.
A statement signed by the Director, Press and Public Relations, Federal Ministry of Youth Development, Omolara Esan, and made available to newsmen, confirmed that the launch of the programme, to be held in Abuja, would promote nationwide participation.
It added that the launch would bring together senior government officials, development partners, private sector leaders, and youth representatives to explore innovative approaches for improving financial capability and strengthening the economic prospects of young Nigerians.
Minister of Youth Development, Comrade Ayodele Olawande, would serve as the chief host, while the Minister of Women Affairs, Hajiya Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, would grace the event as the Special Guest of Honour.
Also expected are representatives of key government institutions and private sector partners, including Dr Enefola Odiba, International Programme Director, Investonaire Academy, and Mr. Bashir Nurmohamed, Chief Executive Officer, Hantec Markets
The statement reads, “A major highlight of the event will be the unveiling of a free national financial literacy training programme targeting over 100,000 youths annually. The programme will be powered by a state-of-the-art Learning Management System (LMS) designed to enhance financial intelligence, investment capacity, and entrepreneurial readiness among Nigerian youth.
Lady Godknows Ogbulu
The chairman of the United Bank for Africa, Tony Elumelu, says Nigeria’s economic transformation will be driven by entrepreneurs, not government handouts or foreign assistance.
Elumelu, who spoke at the Grow Nigeria Conference 2.0 and themed ‘Empowering Nigeria’s Entrepreneurs: Building Institutions That Last’, in Lagos, Monday, said the nation’s future is already being shaped by business owners who refuse to settle for mediocrity.
Elumelu, who is also the founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, described Nigeria as an entrepreneurial nation but stressed the need to build institutions that can stand the test of time.
“Starting businesses is good. Sustaining them is critical, and that’s how we transform this economy,” he said.
He noted that many promising ideas fail because the systems and support structures necessary for growth are absent.
According to him, Nigeria’s renewal must come from the private sector, backed by strong governance frameworks and proper succession planning.
“Nigeria will not be built by government handouts or foreign aid. Government’s role is critical, but Nigeria will be built by entrepreneurs — by you, building businesses that create jobs, hope, and prosperity from the ground up,” he said.
Elumelu, however, emphasized that entrepreneurs cannot succeed in isolation.
“You need frameworks — clear governance, succession planning, and relentless focus on value. We need the right environment. We need a Nigeria where policies are predictable, infrastructure works, and financing is truly accessible,” he said.
He called for stronger alignment between public and private sector efforts, warning that progress would remain limited if institutions work independently rather than collaboratively.
Elumelu commended the Director-General of the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Charles Odii, for ongoing reforms within the agency.
He further lauded President Bola Tinubu for appointing young Nigerians to lead key institutions and for prioritizing youth entrepreneurship.
“Let us cut the bureaucracy. Make finance and opportunity real, not theoretical. Let’s help Nigeria’s entrepreneurs move from surviving to winning.
“Every job we create fights insecurity. Every thriving business increases our tax base and accelerates prosperity for all,” Elumelu added.
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