Research Center

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday that 243,000 jobs were added to the economy in January–up unexpectedly from 203,000 in December.

Payroll specialist Automatic Data Processing Inc. kicked off the monthly parade of employment numbers on Wednesday by reporting that the U.S. private sector created a net of 170,000 jobs in January, down from the revised ADP figure for December of 292,000.

The recent modest upticks in residential property sales, at least for existing homes, haven’t translated to price increases in most U.S. housing markets, according to the latest S&P/Case-Shiller Indices.

U.S. personal income grew 0.5 percent in December, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis on Monday.

The 2.8 percent annualized growth rate that the U.S. economy experienced during the fourth quarter of 2011 sounds good at first blush, but economists were quick to point out that growth during the quarter wasn’t unalloyed good news.

New home sales took an unexpected 2.2 percent dive in December compared with the previous month, coming in at an annualized rate of 307,000 units.

Employment should be as important to the central bank as stable prices, and U.S. growth will continue be “modest” in the coming months.

As expected, President Obama laid out numerous elements of his economic program in Tuesday’s State of the Union address, along with campaign-style dollops of criticism for Congress.

There’s optimism these days among economists regarding the U.S. economy, according to the National Association for Business Economics’ Industry Survey, with fully 65 percent of respondents expecting real GDP growth to increase.