Employers added 157,000 jobs last month and 127,000 more jobs were created in November and December than previously reported, the Labor Department said. Revisions performed each January to the prior year's data showed the labor market was healthier in 2012 than initially thought.
While the unemployment rate rose 0.1 percentage point to 7.9 percent, the closely watched report showed an increase in hourly earnings and solid gains in construction and retail employment.
Single-family home prices rose in September for an sixth straight month in a further sign that the housing market is on the mend, a closely watched survey showed on Tuesday.
This latest rise comes as the housing market has shown numerous other signs of recovery in recent months. The rebound is spurred by a combination of record low mortgage rates, an improving jobs market and a drop in foreclosures to a five-year low, reducing the supply of distressed homes available. There is also a tighter supply of both new and previously owned homes on the market.
The improvement in housing market fundamentals have helped to lift the pace of both home sales and home building.
Dean Baker, the co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research who was one of the earliest economists to warn about the housing bubble and the trouble that lay ahead, said this recovery in the housing market should lead to some sustained housing price increases in the coming years.
"I've been an optimist as of late," he said. "Some think it'll get back to bubble prices and that's crazy. But we'll probably do better than inflation for the next few years, and people who have been underwater on their mortgage will get out from that, and build some equity."
"With six months of consistently rising home prices, it is safe to say that we are now in the midst of a recovery in the housing market," said David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices.
Friday, October 19th, 7pm Value: Who Decides? Momenta Art - 56 Bogart Street, Brooklyn
Occupy Museums invites you to to a discussion on value. It is said that art represents our cultural heritage, our common legacy. Does it? What value is shared when art objects become markers of class hierarchy and easily manipulated commodities, screened by auction-house connoisseurs and turned into “tangible assets” as they enter the secondary market? But how can we value art apart from this model? How might this value system work?
Saturday, October 20, 12:30pm March to Stop the Purple Monster Washington Square Park
The Purple Monster is at it again. NYU's administration is planning a massive expansion in Greenwich Village against the wishes of residents and the majority of NYU's own faculty. The expansion will flatten green spaces, including a children's playground and a community garden. Join the rally and march through the planned construction zone. For more information visit http://nyufasp.com/
Saturday, October 20, 2pm On Municipal Debt with Ann Larson Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, 323 West 39th Street
Is your town experiencing a budget crisis? Is your city laying off workers and cutting services? If this is happening in your community, you are a debtor. Come and learn about municipal bonds, the favorite weapon of mafia capitalists everywhere!
Saturday, October 20th, 3:30pm Lessons from the Chicago Teachers' Strike The Silver School of Social Work at NYU
Room 411 at 1 Washington Square Park North Hear from featured speakers Xian Barrett, member of the Chicago Teachers Union and the Caucus of Rank and File Educators (CORE) and Julie Cavanagh, member of the Movement of Rank and File Educators (MORE) and the United Federation of Teachers. And discussion questions including: What are the strategies teachers, parents, & students in Chicago have used to turn an attack against teachers into a broad fight for social justice? What can we learn from this struggle in New York?
Saturday, October 27th, 8:30pm Tidal #3 Party Momenta Art at 56 Bogart street
Come celebrate the third issue of the magazine Tidal: Occupy Theory, Occupy Strategy. Tidal is a printed magazine and online and in-person horizontal conversation among those who have spent most of their lives thinking about this moment, and people in the Occupy Movement who are making decisions every day about its future. All people involved in this project are heavily involved in Occupy Wall Street. Go to occupytheory.org/ to learn more.
Thursday, November 1st, 8pm Benefit Concert for the National Lawyers Guild - NYC The Riverside Church at 490 Riverside Drive
Since 1937, the NLG-NYC has been on the frontlines of social justice struggles in the courts and on the streets. Guild attorneys have worked for over seven decades to support the legal rights of political dissidents, racial and religious minorities, immigrants, workers, and other oppressed groups far from the center of American power. A diverse group of performers are rising up in support of the NLG-NYC’s work defending robust political dissent in New York City. Head to nlgnyc.org for tickets.
