The U.S. economy added 80,000 jobs in the month of October, pushing the unemployment rate down to 9.0 percent from 9.1 percent according the latest figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In October, the private sector added 104,000 jobs, though 24,000 government workers lost their jobs. On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve forecast that unemployment will likely only drop to between 8.5 and 8.7 percent in 2012. Charlie Herman, business and economics editor for The Takeaway and WNYC, analyzes what these figures mean for the economy.
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