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The Monster Employment Index edged down one point in January, while the annual rate of decline moderated to an almost-flat 3 percent, as the Index appears close to emerging from a period of negative annual growth that spans back to January 2008.

Nonfarm business sector labor productivity increased at a 6.2 percent annual rate during the fourth quarter of 2009, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. This gain in productivity reflects increases of 7.2 percent in output and 1.0 percent in hours worked. (All quarterly percent changes in this release are seasonally adjusted annual rates.) This was the first quarterly increase in hours worked since the second quarter of 2007 (0.9 percent).

As the focus of the White House turns even more towards the economy, President Obama is facing an American public who are not expecting things to be better, not expecting the economy to turn around in the near future and who are earning and saving less. The President will need to back up anything he says with quick and strong action to win over Americans who are hurting financially.