Today it was released that 243,000 jobs were added to the U.S. economy over the month of January, which surpassed most economists’ expectations. The unemployment rate has now dropped to 8.3%, which is down from 8.5% since the start of the year, and from 9.1% in August. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the largest gains occurred in “professional and business services, leisure and hospitality, and manufacturing.” More specifically, among the industries that added the most jobs over the past month were hospitals, bars and restaurants, department stores, and salons. The markets have surged as a response to today’s jobs report.

How is small business factoring into today’s good news? Although employment has begun to pick up across several different industries, small business owners are not entirely satisfied with today’s jobs report. For many business owners, unemployment is only one of many issues currently affecting the livelihood of the business, with other issues such as trade, manufacturing, and rising health care costs taking their toll. Even if manufacturing is adding more jobs to the U.S. economy, an article published by CNN this week shows that those in the manufacturing industry feel that Obama could be doing more to keep jobs from being outsourced. According to two business owners interviewed in the article, it is still substantially cheaper to have their products manufactured in Taiwan and China than in the United States, even if they received a tax credit for moving their jobs back home. The tax credit that the Obama administration has proposed does not do much to offset the substantial difference in wages at home and abroad.

However, in general, any signal that more jobs are being added to the U.S. economy should come as a good sign to small businesses, especially considering that many of these jobs were added to the small business industry. According to an article in Forbes, “signs of an improving U.S. economy [are] broad-based,” with both Wall Street and Main Street feeling the effects.

Has your business noticed an improvement in January? Share your story with us!