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Employment probably shifted into a higher rate in January to post a fourth straight month of gains , offering more evidence of a broadening economic recovery in United States of America (USA), though the jobless rate likely rose. The government is expected to report on Friday that nonfarm payrolls grew 145,000 , according to a Reuters survey, after adding 103,000 in December. But severe snow storms that slammed large parts of the nation could result in a much lower figure. All of the anticipated job gains are expected to have been generated by the private sector and would add to other data suggesting that the manufacturing-driven recovery is now spreading to other sectors of the economy. The Labor Department will release its closely watched employment report at 8:30 a.m. ET. " All the signals are pointing to a much improved labor market compared with last year and a strong payrolls report would be a nice confirmation that things are certainly headed in the right directi...

The US jobless rate surged to 9.8 percent in November, a hammer blow to the economic recovery and to President Barack Obama's hopes for a quick end to high unemployment. The world's largest economy created many fewer jobs than expected and the unemployment rate rose from 9.6 percent to its highest level since April, the Labor Department reported. A measly 39,000 jobs were created during the month, well short of the 130,000 predicted by economists and well beneath the levels needed to dent unemployment rates. Job losses in the retail and manufacturing sector led the decline as the employment market once again proved unable to untether itself from the long-ended recession. The jobless rate has remained above nine percent for the last 19 months, leaving more than 15 million jobseekers unemployed. The White House, under pressure to prove its economic policies are working, acknowledged the unemployment rate was "unacceptably high." Massive government stimulus p...

Washington criticizes  Chinese currency intervention on Wednesday  and  the US administration has filed two new cases against Beijing at the World Trade Organisation in this connection, sources said. The moves are aimed to crank up pressure on Beijing to change what the US says are distortionary and illicit measures to favour its own companies. Tim Murphy, a Republican congressman from Pennsylvania, appeared at a House of Representatives hearing on Wednesday to promote a bill that would allow the US to treat Chinese currency undervaluation as an illegal export subsidy when imposing emergency tariffs. "The American people are calling for Washington to create jobs. Since the administration won't hold China accountable, the Congress must." Separately, the US trade representative (USTR) filed two WTO cases against China, one concerning Chinese restrictions on foreign suppliers processing credit and debit card payments, and another challenging China's own use of emerge...

The US economy grew 1.6% in the second quarter, revised down from a first estimate of 2.4%.The figures were better than most analysts had expected. Recent data on the US economy had raised worries that the US was entering a double-dip recession, dragging the rest of the world with it. The revised figure was mostly due to the largest surge in imports in 26 years, and a slower build-up of stocks by companies. Economists had estimated the revision would be sharper for the April-to-June period, down to about 1.3%. Nevertheless, it still marks a big drop on the growth figure for the previous three months, which stood at 3.7%. The US economy has now grown for four straight quarters, although that annualised growth rate averaged only 2.9%. Experts say that the economy needs to grow at about 3% just to keep the unemployment rate, currently 9.5%, from rising. Business investment in new machinery, computers and software drove much of the growth last quarter, increasing nearly 25%. But much of th...