Payrolls grew by 288,000 jobs last month, the Labor Department reported, well above the 173,000 economists had forecast, according to a survey by Reuters. The number even topped the highest forecasts of about 250,000. The unemployment rate eased to 5.6 percent from 5.7 percent in March. The department also revised its reading on March job growth to 337,000 jobs from the 308,000 reported last month. That gave the economy an average monthly gain of 217,000 a month so far this year, even with weaker-than-expected growth in January and February.

After the economy lost 2.7 million jobs from the start of 2001 until August 2003 -- well after the recession ended -- payrolls have now grown for eight straight months, adding 1.1 million jobs.

Were you one of those 1.1 million who got a newly created job?

Richard Serby, CEO
GeoSearch, Inc.