NBC Nightly News open - 2004-11-05

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:01] Keep watching for your chance to [music]

[0:03] win the coolest snowbird ever.

[0:09] Jobs. A strong report from the

[0:11] government about new ones. Even the

[0:13] experts were surprised.

[0:15] >> Time running out. With sporadic fighting

[0:17] already underway, US Marines could be

[0:19] just days away from an all-out assault

[0:21] on insurgents in Fallujah.

[0:24] >> In depth after Arafat, the PLO leader is

[0:28] still near death. What happens in the

[0:30] Middle East [music] once he's gone?

[0:33] And the home front, one town where an

[0:35] extraordinary number of parents are on

[0:37] the front lines in Iraq. Worries of war

[0:39] and a steely resolve from the children

[0:41] left behind.

[0:45] From NBC [music] News world headquarters

[0:48] in New York, this is NBC Nightly News

[0:51] with Tom Bro.

[0:53] >> Good evening. The good news for

[0:55] President Bush just keeps piling up this

[0:57] week, three days after his election. A

[1:00] big jump in new jobs in the country.

[1:02] Employers went on a hiring spree last

[1:04] month. 337,000

[1:07] new jobs were added to the country's

[1:08] payrolls in October. That's the biggest

[1:11] gain in 7 months. At the same time, the

[1:14] unemployment rate, however, ticked up a

[1:16] tenth of a point to five and a half

[1:17] percent. That's because more discouraged

[1:20] job seekers went back into the labor

[1:22] market looking for work. But overall,

[1:24] economists were pleasantly surprised by

[1:26] the job numbers, and as a result, they

[1:29] are now revising their outlook for the

[1:31] economy on a number of fronts. Here's

[1:34] NBC's Anne Thompson.

[1:38] Rebuilding in the hurricane ravaged

[1:39] Southeast is one reason why today's jobs

[1:42] report blew away expectations.

[1:46] Construction businesses tacking on

[1:48] 71,000 jobs in October.

[1:50] This roofing company in CMI, Florida, on

[1:53] the job from dawn to dusk, 6 days a week

[1:56] as general manager Mickey Murdoch tries

[1:58] to keep up with the growing demand.

[2:01] >> We've probably uh come close to doubling

[2:04] our workforce and we're continuing to

[2:06] hire.

[2:07] >> It was more than just the hurricane. The

[2:10] lion share of new jobs came in service

[2:12] industries, particularly business

[2:14] services, adding everything from legal

[2:16] secretaries to computer programmers to

[2:19] accountants.

[2:20] Yet half of those were temporary

[2:22] positions. Economists point to a

[2:25] slowdown in productivity. Companies

[2:27] doing more with less that helped rev up

[2:29] the labor market.

[2:31] >> Productivity has grown at the smallest

[2:33] amount in the last 2 years. Which means

[2:36] if businesses are going to meet future

[2:38] economic growth, they've got to hire

[2:40] more people to do that.

[2:42] Wall Street liked the employment number

[2:44] and the end of political uncertainty,

[2:46] pushing the Dow to its best week in a

[2:49] year and a half.

[2:50] >> So, good economic data. We know who the

[2:52] president is. The price of oil has

[2:53] gotten cheaper and investors have gotten

[2:55] back into the marketplace.

[2:56] >> And now, with Hanukkah and Christmas

[2:58] around the corner,

[2:59] >> you have 35 cents.

[3:01] >> Economists hope consumers keep the

[3:03] buying momentum going. After 4% jump in

[3:05] retail sales last month, the jobs report

[3:08] is brightening prospects for the

[3:10] all-important holiday shopping season.

[3:12] >> It means more paychecks being taken

[3:14] home, which means more money to spend,

[3:16] >> building confidence in businesses to

[3:18] hire

[3:20] and consumers to spend to keep the

[3:22] economy growing. And Thompson, NBC News,

[3:26] New York.

[3:27] >> And as Anne Thompson mentioned, the jobs

[3:29] number helped Wall Street finish off its

[3:31] best week in a long time. And the Dow

[3:33] ended the day up almost 73 points.

[3:35] NASDAQ was up more than 15 points on the

[3:38] day for the week. Then the Dow was up

[3:41] 360 points. That's its best week since

[3:43] March 2nd, 2003.

[3:46] NASDAQ gained almost 64 points on the

[3:49] week. But more tough times are coming in

[3:52] Iraq, in the city of Fallujah, which has

[3:55] been the kind of unofficial capital of

[3:57] the insurgency.