MN Fed boss: Expect moderate GDP growth in next two years The Experience of the U.S. since the End of 2007 The national economy slowed dramatically during 2008 and the first half of 2009. National output adjusted for inflation fell by 5.1 percent through the second quarter of 2009, and the unemployment rate, which was 5 percent in December 2007, reached 10 percent in

WASHINGTON — In the most impressive surge for the job market since early last year, the United States added 243,000 jobs in January, far more than economists expected. The unemployment rate dropped to 8.3 percent, the lowest in three years. Hiring accelerated across the economy and up and down the pay scale. The high-salary professional services industry added 70,000 jobs, the most in 10

This Time, the Growth in Temps May Be Here to Stay “Unemployment is expected to remain above 8 percent for the next four years.” That gloomy assessment of the U.S. economy from FedEx Chief Economist Gene Huang is echoed in any number of reports and economic predictions. “Most predictions,” says an economic analysis by the Society for Human Resource Management, “are less optimistic now than