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.

Weekly jobless claims dropped to a five-year low last week, surprising analysts. During the week ending January 19, applications for unemployment insurance payments decreased by 5,000 to 330,000, the lowest number since the same week in 2008. But this change matches similar patterns in previous calendar years, due to the challenges of adjusting data during the holiday period and at the start of quarters. One expert indicated that the numbers would rise again at the end of the month, saying, "The swings are attributable to the calendar. We're going to pay for this."

Bloomberg News:

A pickup in consumer spending last month may be helping employers look beyond the rancor in Washington over attempts to cut federal spending and trim the national debt. Nonetheless, an increase in the payroll tax at the start of the year has shaken household confidence, raising the risk that sales may cool.

“Away from the calendar swings, the numbers are getting better,” Jones said. “There’s an improvement in the labor market that is in fact going on."

Initial claims for unemployment benefits came in at 350,000 for last week--a 12,000 drop from the week before. This indicates a strengthening labor market and represents the lowest weekly figure since 2008. The number is down 8.9 percent from one year ago. Nineteen states sent in estimated data because the holiday affected data collection, so the figure may be revised upward next week. The four-week moving average, which helps smooth out inconsistencies in data collection was 356,750, down from last week’s figure of 368,000.

During a segment on Tuesday criticizing the Obama administration for its messaging on the economy, a Fox & Friends graphic claimed that the "real unemployment rate" had increased from 7.8% in 2009 to 14.7% now.

However, the graphic -- which showed the rate nearly doubling since Obama took office -- was actually comparing today's "real unemployment rate" with 2009's official unemployment rate.

After being presented with the Fox graphic, Fox News contributor Laura Ingraham said: "Other than Fox News, where are you really seeing those statistics?" Indeed, who else has faux news?

The most recent official unemployment rate is 8.1, which is only 0.3 percent higher, and not nearly enough to lead to mass right-wing nut hysteria on the internets.

The so-called "real" unemployment figure, which also includes part-timers looking for full-time work, currently stands at 14.7 percent and has been steadily declining for the past three years.

When Media Matters pointed out this inconvenient fact, "Fox & Friends" hosts, Brian Kilmeade and Gretchen Carlson, were forced to acknowledge their *cough* "mistake."

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Riki Lindhome and Kate Micucci, a comedy duo known as Garfunkel and Oates, sing a "We are the World"-style parody, inspired by Occupy Wall Street, about the current economic crisis in this clip directed by MATT and OZ. "All the jobless people need to learn to be content," they intone faux-earnestly into the mic as visions of old white gentleman float by, "because what we need to do is protect the 1%."

Extended federal unemployment benefits will soon begin to start running out, despite a decision by Congress to renew the program. The federal benefit extensions supported unemployment payments for up to 99 weeks to help the unemployed until the job market improved. When the program expired in February, Congress renewed it, but reduced the number of weeks payments could be sent and made it difficult for states to get the maximum amount of aid. Since then, 23 states have lost months of benefits and roughly 500,000 people are expected to lose their jobless benefits prematurely this year, including 70,000 in the next month alone.

[Via]

From the director of "No End In Sight" comes a documentary on the financial meltdown of 2008 and the ways in which it could have been avoided.

"Inside Job" provides a comprehensive analysis of the global financial crisis of 2008, which at a cost over $20 trillion, caused millions of people to lose their jobs and homes in the worst recession since the Great Depression, and nearly resulted in a global financial collapse. Through exhaustive research and extensive interviews with key financial insiders, politicians, journalists, and academics, the film traces the rise of a rogue industry which has corrupted politics, regulation, and academia. It was made on location in the United States, Iceland, England, France, Singapore, and China.

Academy Award winner Matt Damon narrates this unflinching look at the deep-rooted corruption that has left millions of middle-class Americans jobless and homeless as the major corporations get bailed out while paying millions in bonuses.

[Length: 1 hour 48 minutes]