USA Today (02/03/13) Paul Davidson

The U.S. Department of Labor reports average monthly job growth of 181,000 last year and 175,000 in 2011, which is much higher than the estimated monthly gains of 153,000 for those years and occurred even while the economy grew only 1.5% to 2%. Experts say the recent jobs report indicates that the economy has been quickly creating jobs, although such a level of job growth generally requires economic growth of more than 3%. They note that employers eliminated more workers than necessary during the recession and placed bigger burdens on existing employees during the recovery, and they believe such a strategy is unsustainable over the long term. Tom Gimbel, chief executive of the Chicago-based staffing firm LaSalle Network, reports a 30% increase in placements last year and an 80% jump in placements this year compared with 2012.