Wall Street Has Record Day After Good Economic News
It was another record-breaking day on Wall Street Friday as good news about the U.S. economy and jobs sent the markets to new highs.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed above 15,000 for the first time before falling back to close at 14,973. The S&P 500 closed at an all-time high of 1,616.
165,000 jobs were added in April 2013 in the United States.
The Labor Department said 165,000 new jobs were created in April. The unemployment rate fell to 7.5 percent - its lowest level in more than four years. The numbers beat many economists' expectations.
Job gains were concentrated in professional and business services. Hiring also grew in retail, hospitality and health care, while manufacturing saw no gains.
Even with the new jobs, though, 11.7 million Americans are unemployed. More than 4 million of those who are jobless have been out of work for six months or longer.
The chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisors, Alan Krueger, says the economy is continuing its recovery from the recession's "deep hole." Krueger said the recovery would be faster if Congress would repeal the automatic budget cuts. He also said they should be replaced with Obama administration proposals for mixing cuts with efforts to promote manufacturing and boost jobs through spending on infrastructure.
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