240,000 per month during the first half of last year to 2880,000 per month during the second half and employment rose 260,000 in january. In addition, longterm unemployment has declined substantially. Fewer workers are reporting that they can find only parttime work when they would prefer fulltime employment and the pace of quits, often regarded as a barbarometer has recovered to its prerecession level. The Labor Force Participation rate is lower than most estimates of its trend and wage growth remains sluggish, suggesting that some weakness persists. In short, considerable progress has been achieved in the recovery of the labor market but room for further improvement remains. At the same time that the labor market situation has improved, domestic spending and production have been increasing at a solid rate. Real Gross Domestic Product estimated to have increased at 3. 75 at the annual rate. G. D. P. Growth is not anticipated to be sustained at that pace, it is expected to be Strong En