The leading business story from The Associated Press this afternoon says the job market is looking a little brighter at the start of the new year. Weekly unemployment benefit applications have fallen to levels last seen more than three years ago, and were 11% lower last week than they were during the same week a year ago. Holiday sales were solid in final reports. Service companies grew a little faster in December. And many small businesses say they plan to add jobs over the next three months. The mix of private and government data released today sketches a picture of an economy that is slowly strengthening, stoking optimism one day ahead of the government’s important read on December job growth. But an article in Forbes says there’s good reason to question some of the jobs figures being released. Read the full story from The Associated Press here, and see the Forbes article here.
New year brings hopeful outlook on hiring, but skepticism remains
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