Payrolls Grow as Employers Gain Confidence in Recovery zt

Payrolls increased in 41 U.S. statesin October, led by Texas and New York, indicating the labormarket is stabilizing across the world’s largest economy.

Employers in Texas added 47,900 jobs last month, whilepayrolls rose 40,600 in New York, figures from the LaborDepartment showed today in Washington. California and Michiganrounded out the four states with the biggest job gains. Thenumber of states reporting increases in employment was thehighest since May.

The report is consistent with figures on Nov. 5 that showednationwide payrolls rose in October for the first time in fivemonths, a sign employers are gaining confidence the recoverywill be sustained. Federal Reserve policy makers, with the goalof boosting growth enough to reduce the jobless rate, said theywill buy an additional $600 billion of Treasuries.

“The labor market is starting to improve slowly,” saidHenry Mo, an economist at Credit Suisse in New York. “We needfaster economic growth. It’ll take a few years to dig out of thedeep hole of job losses.”

Unemployment rates declined in 19 states and rose in 14.While Nevada’s jobless rate is the highest in the nation,unemployment fell to 14.2 percent in October from 14.4 percentfrom the prior month. The jobless rate in North Dakota rose to3.8 percent, the lowest in the U.S., from 3.7 percent.

In California, the largest state, non-farm jobs rose by38,900, the most since May 2006. Payrolls in New York, thethird-biggest state, increased by the most since April 2005.

The jobless rate was unchanged in these states even aspayrolls grew. California’s unemployment held at 12.4 percent,Texas’s at 8.1 percent, and New York’s at 8.3 percent.

Four Biggest

Data released earlier this month showed California, Texas,Florida and New York, the four biggest states, all added jobs inOctober for the first time since May as the recovery stokeddemand for labor. Michigan showed payroll gains of 19,000 inOctober.

Seven industries showed gains in payrolls, led by a 103,000increase in education and health services, today’s reportshowed. Government agencies added 38,000 workers.

The unemployment rate in New York City, the nation’s most-populous, dropped to a seasonally adjusted 9.2 percent lastmonth, the lowest since April 2009, from 9.3 percent inSeptember, the state Labor Department said last week.

Today’s report showed eight states had unemployment of 10percent or higher.

State and local employment data are derived independentlyfrom the national statistics, which are typically released onthe first Friday of every month. The state figures are subjectto larger sampling errors because they come from smallersurveys, making the national figures more reliable, according tothe government’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Private Hiring

The Labor Department’s Nov. 5 report had showed payrollsclimbed by 151,000 workers in October, and the jobless rate heldat 9.6 percent for a third month. Private hiring expanded themost since April, hours worked rose and wages grew, it alsosaid.

New Jersey’s jobless rate fell to 9.2 percent last month,from 9.4 percent in September. The rate is the state’s lowestsince May 2009, according to its labor department data issuedlast week.

Unemployment in Pennsylvania, the sixth-most populous U.S.state, slid 0.2 percentage point to 8.8 percent as the stateadded 15,900 jobs, according to the state’s labor department. Itwas the third straight month the rate fell, and the first timeit was below 9 percent since February, according toPennsylvania’s labor department.

New York City

Even so, staff reductions are expected at state and localgovernment agencies. New York City, facing a $3.3 billiondeficit in next year’s budget, will cut its workforce by morethan 10,000 over the next year-and-a-half, Mayor MichaelBloomberg’s budget office said Nov. 18. More than 6,200 workerswill be fired, and the remainder of the cuts will be madethrough attrition, his office said.

Retailers taking on extra workers for the November-Decemberholiday shopping season include Kohl’s Corp. The MenomoneeFalls, Wisconsin-based department store chain will hire about40,000 people for the period, 21 percent more than last year.Bentonville, Arkansas-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’slargest retailer, also will ramp up temporary staff.