LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The Labor Department reported that employers added 243,000 jobs in January. This marked an uptick from the previous month of December, when the economy added 203,000 jobs. The unemployment has fallen to its lowest rate since February 2009.

Many were surprised by the strong job market, and once it was apparent the job gains were broad based across several sectors, economists and investors called it a "nice surprise," "fantastic," and even "a touchdown!" Stocks climbed at the market open.

"To show the economy adding this kind of jobs number in a January is amazing," Kathy Kane, senior vice president of talent management at Adecco Group North America says. "As we talk to clients, they're very optimistic about continuing to hold jobs throughout the year but also to increase jobs."

Brian Hamilton, CEO of Sageworks, a financial information company is bullish about the recent good news. "This is an optimistic jobs report, especially in light of very poor jobs reports for almost three years. We don't know if the positive jobs trend will continue, but it is definitely a good trend."

In addition, the economy added 180,000 more jobs than originally thought in 2011. Private businesses have been adding jobs consistently since March 2010, adding 257,000 jobs.

The manufacturing sector added 50,000 jobs last month. Manufacturing has accounted for 14 percent of the job gains in the last 13 months. Professional and business services added 70,000 jobs, and education and health services added 36,000 jobs.

However, the government has also been bleeding jobs since the middle of 2010, and continued to do so in January. Most of the recent job losses have been at the state and local level. Overall, the public sector cut 14,000 jobs in January.

While gradual improvement in the job market may strengthen President Obama's position, aiding his reelection efforts, major weaknesses still remains.

"I suspect the White House will be happy the unemployment rate is down, but they also have to be mindful that we still have a long way to go here," Chad Moutray, chief economist with the National Association of Manufacturers said.

The economy still needs to add about 5.6 million jobs to get back to 2008 employment levels. It's not known if job growth will continue to grow apace.

Only 36 percent of executives recently surveyed by the Corporate Executive Board expect to increase their total headcount in 2012.

"Even though we've seen the outlook improve in the last few months, there's still a lot of risk and uncertainty out there in the business environment," Michael Griffin, executive director and head of global research for CEB says. "Generally speaking, we see executives developing a cautious posture."

Much work remains to be done. Europe's debt crisis continues to disrupt employers' sleep, the housing sector remains a drag, and uncertainty surrounding fiscal policies like the extension of the payroll tax hangs in the air.

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