Jobs are Up!

Good news, everyone!

If you haven't been keeping up, this morning was the announcement of the monthly national unemployment figures for April. Analysts expected the number to remain about the same as March, or even decrease slightly (as March had seen an unexpectedly large rise). And, indeed, as predicted, due to overall growth in the labor market with new graduates (it is May, after all) and other people returning to the labor market, the unemployment rate is now back to 9% from 8.8%.

This isn't quite so bad, though. Overall, the economy added 244,000 new jobs last month, far above the 185,000 that were forecast by most analysts. This makes April the third straight month of solid job growth, and makes us well on our way to overall recovery. Keep it up, economy!

And speaking of May and new graduates, there's good news for college grads as well. According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, 2011 graduates are 4% more likely to already have an offer in hand than their 2010 counterparts. 42% of 2011 seniors who participated in the NACE survey reported having an offer, over 38% last year. You can read more about this year's survey here. Keep it up, employers!

If this isn't good news, I don't know what is!