Unemployment drops below 5% for first time since 2008

Let's start with the good news.

The U.S. unemployment rate has dropped below 5% for the first time since 2008 and wages are finally on the rise, indicating that the multi-year economic recovery is not done yet.

The Labor Department's January report found that the U.S. added 151,000 jobs in the first month of the year, putting the unemployment rate at 4.9%. 

The paychecks of the average American are also growing, an important element of the broader economic recovery that has lagged behind overall job growth. January wages were 2.5% higher than a year ago.

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Now the not as good news. 

The 151,000 jobs added came in below economists' expectations as tallied by Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal. That number is also considerably lower than last January or the past three months, in which the country added more than 220,000 jobs.

That slowing growth adds to a variety of other concerns about the state of the economy in the U.S. and around the world. Global stock markets have started the year with steep drops, fueled in part by concern about China's economy. 

Market pessimists have begun to argue that these headwinds are going to be enough to send the U.S. economy into a recession -- a period of economic contraction. 

The good jobs report did little to encourage investors. U.S. stocks opened in the red, with the Dow Jones off 46 points and the broader S&P 500 down 0.7%, adding to an already rough year.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

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