U.S. Employers Slash 20,000 Jobs

The Wall Street Journal puts it this way: "U.S. Employers Slash 20,000 Jobs; Jobless Rate Falls to 9.7%"

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics:

• The unemployment rate declined from 10.0 to 9.7 percent in January.
• In January, the number of unemployed persons decreased to 14.8 million.
• Health care employment continued to rise in January.
• Ambulatory health care services added 15,000 jobs over the month.

It's good to see growth in the health care sector. We're certainly also going to see growth in the health information technology industry as companies and hospitals receive some ARRA stimulus funds related to the HITECH provisions. Will that be enough to stimulate the economy back to life?