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Unemployment falls to 9 percent, lowest since 2009

WASHINGTON – The unemployment rate is suddenly sinking at the fastest pace in a half-century, falling to 9 percent from 9.8 percent in just two months — the most encouraging sign for the job market since the recession ended.

More than half a million people found work in January. A government survey found weak hiring by big companies. But more people appear to be working for themselves or finding jobs at small businesses.

The steepest two-month decline in unemployment since the Eisenhower administration is the latest sign that the economic recovery is picking up speed.

The service sector and manufacturing are growing again at pre-recession rates. The Dow Jones industrial average closed above 12,000 this week for the first time since mid-2008. And retail sales have reached a five-year high.

"It is not all rosy. But we seem to be headed in the right direction," said economist Chris Rupkey at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi. "The recovery is on track — warts and all."

Yields on government bonds rose after the unemployment report came out, a sign that bond traders think the job market is improving and will lift the economy after a year and a half of only modest growth.

An unemployment rate of 9 percent remains very high by historical standards. But the swift decline in the rate could also lift confidence at a time when businesses and individuals are already spending more money, fueling more hiring and still-more spending.

Unemployment has not been this low since April 2009.

"It's the thinking, `I survived so far and I'll make it through,'" said economist Nigel Gault of IHS Global Insight. "'I can buy the things I postponed buying over the past several years because I'm not worried about my job.'"

It could also encourage people who had given up to look for jobs again, which might push the unemployment rate up temporarily. People out of work aren't counted as unemployed unless they're looking for a job. Typically during a tight job market, some of the unemployed become discouraged and stop looking.

Still, economists think the unemployment rate will fall below 9 percent by year's end — a far brighter outlook than they had a few months ago.

Those with jobs are making a little more, too. Average hourly earnings rose 8 cents to $22.86 in January. Over a 40-hour workweek, the increase works out to $3.20, a couple of cups of coffee.

Wages have risen nearly 2 percent over the past year, faster than the rate of inflation, which means people have more spending power.

The Labor Department survey of company payrolls showed a net gain of 36,000 jobs in January. That's scarcely one-fourth the number needed to keep pace with population growth.

The government uses a separate survey of households to calculate the unemployment rate. It calls 60,000 households and asks people if they're working or looking for a job.

This survey includes some people not counted in the payroll survey: the self-employed, farm workers and domestic help. It also includes those who work at small companies.

By contrast, in the payroll survey, about 140,000 businesses and government agencies send forms to the Labor Department showing how many people are on the payroll and how many hours they worked. The payroll survey can be slower than the household survey to recognize startup companies.

The number of people who described themselves as self-employed rose by 165,000 to 9.7 million in January, the report said. That was the most since May.

In addition, some economists said, the unusually snowy winter might have suppressed hiring at businesses in January. Some construction companies shut down, for instance, and transportation companies cut jobs for couriers and messengers. Neil Dutta, an economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, said the figure would probably rebound in February.

"The thumbprints of the weather were all over this report," he said. "We know the job market is recovering."

In another bright spot, the manufacturing sector added 49,000 jobs, the most since August 1998. Retailers added 28,000, the most in a year. Manufacturing output has grown for more than a year, and retail sales for January posted their biggest gain since 2005.

"The worst of the recession is behind us," said Mike Dougherty, president of D&S Manufacturing in Black River Falls, Wis., which makes parts for manufacturers of farm machines and railroad equipment.

He expects demand for his products to rise this year and plans to add about 10 people to his 150-person work force.

The last time the unemployment rate fell so far so fast was in 1958, when it dropped to 6.2 percent from 7.1 percent in two months. At the time, the economy was bouncing back from an eight-month recession.

The rate is falling now in part because some people without jobs have stopped looking. The number who have given up looking rose to 2.8 million last month, from 2.6 million in December.

About 1 million of those workers said they were discouraged. The others stopped looking because they returned to school or for other reasons.

There are still nearly 14 million people unemployed in the United States. That's about twice as in December 2007, when the recession began.

The government also said fewer jobs were created last year than first thought — a net 909,000, down from an estimated 1.1 million. The economy lost about 8 million jobs total in the two years before that.

In the past three months, the economy generated an average of 83,000 net jobs per month, according to the survey of business payrolls. It takes 125,000 jobs a month to keep up with population growth.

The weakness in the government payroll survey was widespread. Restaurants and hotels cut 2,200 jobs, governments 14,000, temporary help agencies 11,000 and financial services companies 10,000.

Health care, one of the few steady job generators through the downturn, added 11,000 jobs, the fewest in almost two years. Financial services lost 10,000 jobs.

The number of people who are employed part-time but would rather be working full-time fell to 8.4 million from 8.9 million in December. Combined with the 13.9 million unemployed and people who have given up looking for work, roughly 25 million people were "underemployed" last month. They amounted to 16.1 of the labor force, down from 16.7 percent in November.

While hiring has yet to pick up in force, businesses have cut back on layoffs. If you still have a job, you are less likely to lose it today than you have been at any point in the past 20 years.

As for those laid off during the recession, some are finding that striking out on their own is a better way.

Bobby Vasquez lost his job as a communications specialist for the city of Houston in April 2009. With financial help from friends and business associates, he launched a website about Deer Park, the Houston suburb where he lives. He doesn't make as much money as before. But he says he is happier.

"Because of the way the economy worked out, I'm actually achieving a dream 10 or 20 years earlier than I thought I would," he said.

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AP Economics Writer Paul Wiseman contributed to this report.

Olesz scores in OT to lift Panthers past Devils

NEWARK, N.J. – Rostislav Olesz scored 2 minutes into overtime to give the Florida Panthers a 4-3 win over the New Jersey Devils on Friday night.

Olesz got the winner on a sharp-angle shot from the bottom of the right circle that slipped past Devils goaltender Johan Hedberg.

Chris Higgins, Dennis Wideman and Mike Santorelli also scored for the Panthers, 2-3-4 in their last nine games.

Florida cooled off the Devils, who are 8-2-1 in their last 11. Travis Zajac, Jason Arnott and Mark Fayne scored for New Jersey.

Higgins opened the scoring at 6:52, backhanding Steve Bernier's rebound past Hedberg.

The Devils scored the next two goals thanks to lucky bounces off the boards.

Zajac pulled New Jersey even with an unassisted tally at 8:52, capping a sequence that started with Vokoun sweeping the puck into the corner. Panthers defenseman Jason Garrison tried for a clear around the boards, only to have the puck take a weird bounce off the glass into the slot where Zajac tapped it home.

The Devils went up 2-1 as Arnott banked the rebound of Henrik Tallinder's point shot that deflected wide of the net. The puck again bounded New Jersey's way, hopping off the boards right to Arnott.

Wideman pulled the Panthers even at 12:35 with a power-play tally on a point shot with Michael Frolik providing a screen in front of Hedberg.

Fayne broke the deadlock at 6:20 of the second, chipping in a high shot from the blueline. Devils forward Nick Palmieri, positioned in the slot, ducked out of the way as the puck floated past Tomas Vokoun.

Later in the period, both goalies made big stops on short-handed breakaways to keep the score 3-2 in favor of the Devils.

Vokoun denied Patrik Elias' bid while Hedberg poke-checked the puck away from Marty Reasoner.

Hedberg was sharp early in the third, denying Rostislav Olesz when the Panthers charged the net. He later made a pair of bang-bang saves, stopping Wideman's point shot and Reasoner's rebound attempt.

Hedberg had no chance when Santorelli tied the game at 3 on a short-handed breakaway at 12:52.

Santorelli picked off a pass in the Panthers zone and sped toward Hedberg, who charged out to challenge the shooter. Santorelli faked him down and out before depositing the puck into the open net.

Zajac made a strong bid for the winner in regulation, hitting the post with 5 minutes left.

Notes: The Panthers played their third game in four nights coming out of the All-Star break. ... The Devils assigned D Alexander Urbom to Albany (AHL). He was recalled on Tuesday. ... The Panthers scratched RW Evgeny Dadonov (broken finger). ... The Devils' scratches were D Mark Fraser and C Adam Mair. ... Friday was the one-year anniversary of the trade that brought Ilya Kovalchuk to New Jersey from Atlanta. ... This concluded the Panthers' season-high six-game road trip (2-3-1).

Obama Walks Marriage Tightrope

Los Angeles – The Obama administration is running head-on toward a confrontation with the Defense of Marriage Act, and it's not clear how it will play out.

New lawsuits regarding the 1996 law, which denies federal recognition of same-sex marriage and allows states to not recognize gay marriages performed in other jurisdictions, have been filed. While Obama doesn't support DOMA, he feels it's the Justice Department's duty to defend Congressional acts so his administration is stuck defending a law he doesn't believe in.

Two cases involving DOMA were filed in districts covered by the appeals court in New York State; a court that has no precedent on dealing with laws that specifically discriminate against gay people, according to The New York Times. As DOMA opponents argue the law unfairly targets a specific class, the question of whether gay people are indeed a stigmatized class and can choose to change their minority status (i.e. their orientation) may be a sticking point in the cases. The Obama administration certainly doesn't want to find itself arguing those points in its defense.

According to unnamed sources, the Justice Department is currently wrestling with how to handle the cases; they're required to respond to them by March 11. DOMA has already been ruled unconstitutional by a federal judge in Massachusetts, and an appeal is pending.

Read the full story .

N. Korea makes fresh call for talks with S. Korea

SEOUL (AFP) – North Korea Friday made a fresh call for talks with South Korea to reduce what it called the danger of war, urging Seoul to discard "useless misgivings and prejudice".

The Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland proposed dialogue between legislators from both sides "to settle the grave situation prevailing between the North and the South".

The two sides have already agreed in principle to hold military talks, in what would be their first contact since the North shelled a South Korean border island on November 23 -- killing four people including two civilians.

The South responded coolly to the latest proposal, saying it lacks sincerity.

"We are currently discussing opening military talks and have proposed separate talks to confirm the North's willingness to denuclearise," said unification ministry spokesman Chun Hae-Sung.

"It is our judgment that the North continuing this kind of offensive under such circumstances is not behaviour that shows sincerity."

The South has proposed holding working-level military talks on February 11 to set the time and agenda for high-level military dialogue.

Seoul also accuses its neighbour of torpedoing a warship last March with the loss of 46 lives. The North denies that attack.

South Korea says it will demand that its neighbour take "responsible measures" over last year's attacks and pledge not to repeat them, as a precondition for any high-level military meeting.

But Friday's statement from the Democratic Front, one of the bodies overseeing cross-border affairs, called for unconditional talks.

"We appeal to the South Korean authorities to discard useless misgivings and prejudice and honestly come out for all the proposed North-South dialogues without delay and any condition," it said in a statement on the official news agency.

It said the danger of war "in which fire was returned for fire last year was defused temporarily thanks to the (North's) positive efforts but this danger still persists".

The North says its shelling of the island near the disputed Yellow Sea border was in response to a South Korean artillery exercise, which dropped shells into waters claimed by Pyongyang.

The South says its own exercise was routine and the North's response was a premeditated provocation.

After months of fiery rhetoric, Pyongyang has changed tack this year and made frequent appeals for dialogue. Seoul has expressed scepticism about most of the overtures, saying they are public relations exercises.

Apple makes Find My iPhone free for some iOS 4.2 users

As a part of , Apple will make the "Find My iPhone" set of remote-control features previously found in its $99-per-year MobileMe service available for free to owners of at least one iPhone 4, iPad, or fourth-generation iPod touches.

(A previous version of this story said all iOS 4.2-compatible devices were covered; however, Apple's iOS 4.2 page and press release specify that signing up for the feature requires one of the latest versions of the hardware. According to Apple, "Once you create an account on a qualifying device, use your Apple ID and password to enable Find My iPhone on your other devices running iOS 4.2." So as long as your household has one current-generation device, you can use the feature on all your devices running iOS 4.2.)

Once users upgrade those devices to iOS 4.2, they canby opening the Settings app, tapping on "Mail, Contacts, Calendars," and then tapping Add Account. From the next menu, tap on MobileMe. The new MobileMe account prompt allows you to enter a MobileMe user name or your Apple ID-in other words, the same user name and password you use to buy media or apps via iTunes. There's also an option to create an Apple ID right from within the app.

Once Apple's system verifies your ID, you'll be able to turn on the(or iPad, or iPod touch) feature.

How it works

Like the name says, this feature allows you to find your iOS device when you've lost it. To access the Find My iPhone set of features, users can log into Apple's MobileMe site ator use theiOS app. An iOS device can use two different methods to determine its location. The iPhone and 3G iPad come with a GPS receiver, so they can triangulate their location using satellite technology.

Wi-Fi-only devices use a less precise (but still quite effective) system that uses nearby Wi-Fi base stations to figure out their location. The downside of this approach is that if your device isn't on a Wi-Fi network, it can't look up its location or relay it back to you. So if you leave your iPod touch under your desk at work you're covered, but if you drop it in a field in the middle of a hike, forget it.

What it does

Though Find My iPhone does indeed let you view the location of all your iOS devices on a map-my wife uses this to figure out where I am and when I'm coming home for dinner, which is why we call it "Find My Husband"-it's not the only thing the feature can do.

If you lose your iOS device but just know it's around somewhere you can use Find My iPhone to make it play a sound, even if it's been set to operate silently. You can also make it display a message, which can be useful if you're trying to ask whomever found your lost device to give you a call and return it to you.

Two other features of Find My iPhone allow you to secure the device when it's out of your hands. Remote Lock lets you add a lock code to your device remotely, so that whomever has it can't unlock it and see your data. And Remote Wipe will irrevocably delete all your data.

What it doesn't do

Despite this feature being free for the users of new hardware, all the other features of Apple's MobileMe subscription service remain available only to those who pay the $99--annual fee.

[Updated 7 a.m. to correct statement that this feature was for all users of iOS 4.2.]