And friends of the newshour. And. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Brown 2012 ended with another month of steady but unspectacular job growth. That was the main takeaway from todays numbers out of the labor department. The weeks of will they or wont they go over the fiscal cliff in washington had raised fears that businesses would cut back hiring. Instead, the december jobs report suggests that neither employers nor job seekers were rattled, but that there had also been no big pickup in job growth. The u. S. Economy added 155,000 jobs, slightly down from november, but in line with analysts expectations. Overall, an average of 153,000 jobs were added each month in 2012, roughly the same pace as the year before. And in a sign of growing confidence, more people entered the job market last month. 182,000 americans got into the labor force. That means that they went out there looking for jobs. That means people are getting more optimistic out in the streets. Brown one area where that optimism was justified is construction. It added 30,000 jobs, the best performance in 15 months. Much of that was due to reconstruction from Hurricane Sandy. Other bright spots were health care, which added another 55,000 workers; restaurants and bars, which gained 38,000 more employees; and manufacturing, with 25,000 new positions. Alan krueger is chairman of the president s council of economic advisors. I think were seeing the job market continuing to heal. The economys continuing to heal from the very deep damage that was caused by the financial crisis. Brown even so, there were also indications of continued sluggishness in december. The Unemployment Rate was 7. 8 . Thats up a tenth from the initial reading in november, which was revised upward today. And the number of unemployed rose 164,000 to 12. 2 million. That number rises to nearly 23 million once parttime workers and those whove given up looking for work are added in. Most economists expect modest growth but little overall improvement this year, as the pace of job growth remains too low to make much of a dent in the Unemployment Rate. We get an economic snapshot of different regions of the country from three public broadcasting reporters Erik Anderson is a Business Reporter and anchor on kpbs in san diego, california; cathy lewis is an anchor and host of her own show, hear say, on whro in norfolk, virginia; and Stan Jastrzebski is news director for wfiu in bloomington, indiana. Eric ander son, lets start out west with you. Do the new numbers jive with what you are seeing in your area and in california . Steady but not spectacular hiring . Thats exactly right. California has been tracking in that steady way. Weve been seeing growth for now probably the past 18 months or so. But it hasnt been that spectacular growth. Its not that recovery growth. A lot of economists here are talking about the economy is showing good healthy signs and the job market is reflecting that. But its not showing the kind of signs you need for the economy to recover completely. So yours not quite at a complete recovery but certainly the job market is pick up here. Any particular sectors that you look at or point to. Yeah, there are a couple out here, in fact. Leisure and Hospitality Industry gained significantly. About 62,000 jobs there. Construction picked up here not because of Hurricane Sandy on the west coast, thats mostly i think due to the optimism in the business arena and the rebound in some of the housing market. And also the information industry has picked up about 26,000 jobs here. And stand jastrzebski in bloomington, what do you see in your area . Well, i think in bloomington and indiana generally what we may be seeing is sort of a delayed reaction. Ive talked to some economist as that say maybe Business Owners were a little late to pick up on, for instance, how bad the fiscal cliff could be for them. So theres a little bit of worry, i think, still here and the state is kind of now getting to the point where people are beginning to figure out what the fiscal cliff negotiations meant for them. And so the states manufacturing sector, for instance, had been growing at three times the national rate. And now i guess well kind of watch and see where it goes going forward, especially in such a manufacturing heavy state as this. Brown well, so how has that affected manufacturing and other sectors . Or you are saying it is more of a waitandsee at this moment . Thats exactly right. Wait and see is probably a very good way to put testimony. The slowdown has been felt here in inendment and in california. Its been slow and steady. But now here in end inwe need to see going into the first couple of months of 2013 where the numbers go from here. I think this is kind of potentially a little tipping point. And could we, if we continue on in the way weve been going then i think well have gotten past the worries of the cliffment but i think it is too soon to tell. Brown cathy lewis we have talked to you in the past. Really Military Area in norfolk. But give us a sense of overview of what you are seeing. Sure, while stan suggests there is a little worry in indiana, i can tell threw is a lot of worry here. That is especially true because the Hampton Roads region has rested comfortably between the states Unemployment Rate and the national Unemployment Rate. But that could change pretty quickly here as a result of the delay of sequestration now to march 27th. In fact, just today one of the states leading economists Christine Chim ura told the virginia commerce that the state will definitely move into recession if sequestration occurs on march 27th and that will particularly be felt in the Northern Virginia region, the washington suburb and right here at Hampton Roads which has the Largest Military concentration in the country. Brown cathy, give us a little more of other industries. I dont know if you can set aside all this sequestration and uncertain over that. But where has things been headed in the past couple of months . I think things have been had been holding pretty steady in the region. This particular conversation conversation about the degree of dependence this community has on defense has really been brought into sharp relief in these last couple of months. I think there is a growing sense of awareness on the leaders here in this region, the fact that one of every two dollars in the economy comes from defense is a challenging place to be on the brink of what may happen on march 27th. I talked with a c. E. O. That today who told mow that the fact of the matter is they are at what they are calling a nervous parade rest. Theres very great concern because as the year moves on, if the fiscal, if the sequestration comes through, there will be a shorter period of time and so the cuts will be bigger and more painful. Reporter Erik Anderson in san diego, we hear so much about this uncertainty of the economy. And then uncertainty based on what is going on here in washington. What is your sense of how that plays out in the economy there . Well, just like in virginia, there is a keen awareness about the uncertainty over federal funding here. Sequestration hits the active duty military personnel that are stationed in san diego, big naval installations here, marine installations. It hits defense contractors that are centered here in san diego. A lot of research and Development Goes on in this area and in the los angeles area. And it also hits the researchers who are working in Life Sciences who rely on federal funding for their Research Dollars as well. So theres a lot of concern because it reaches a lot of areas that really buoyed the area up during the economic downturn, that kept the economic downturn from being as severe, which was the military and Life Sciences. Brown so your sense is people were watching carefully the fiscal cliff doings and even more so now, weve been talking about on the program that this is going to continue for months. Yeah, its really kind of seen as more of a swerve instead of carrevening over this fiscal cliff. People realize that, you know, the vehicle is still moving and there is still the potential to have a serious impact in jobs and in dollars that come in and out of the san diego economy. So that has them worried as well. Stan jastrzebski, also thinking about what is going on in washington t that would be the Federal Reserve which has kept Interest Rates at close to zero for quite a long time now. Can you tell whether thats having some impact in term its of businesses willing to invest or consumers willing to borrow . I think one of the consumer markets might be the housing sector which has been particularly positive in indianapolis and in indiana in general. New Housing Starts for all of 2012 were up in indiana. So people seem to be ready to take out those loans, ready to get new houses built. But now were hearing from mayors around the state who say that there is the opposite problem where even though the states got a 2 billion surplus, were looking at assessed values of homes going down. So the consumers buying the houses that are new are not the same, obviouslies as pem who have the home and seeing the values go down, as those values go down, so does property tax revenue. So you have kind of a twosided argument here. People are willing to invest themselves but when they invest, theyre worried i think that their investment is going to poning potentially lose value over time pore quickly than it might otherwise. Brown cathy lewis, what about that, Interest Rates and housing sector in particular. You know, its an interesting time here because the prices are starting to come up a little bit. We are starting to see some more sales activity. But you have a lot of people who are sort of stuck for the moment. Their houses are, they owe more than their houses are worth, this frequently happens with military families who have been transferred out of the area. So you have a lot of folks who have been in that situation, who are renting homes and cant afford necessarily to buy somewhere else. But things are moving and the Real Estate Community is saying the prices are starting to come up and theyre feeling more optimistic. Brown since were at the beginning of the year, cathy, let me ask you first, what are you looking for . I mean what, sounds as though the most important things for your area is what happens here in washington. Boy, is there no question about that. All eyes are on march 27th. I have to be honest and say im not hearing much enthusiasm about the prospects of coming up with a deal that will do away with the sequestration. Theres great concern about that. Because if managers are required to find this year dollars, about the only place they can do that is personnel and maintenance contracts, service items, that sort of thing. So that means youre going to be hitting buildings and grounds folks, personnel, the very real prospect of furloughs and layoffs. You might have less steaming time, less aircraft hours. So there are a lot of small and midsized contractors that serve the Defense Industry who are very, very anxious. And i i talking to folol who are saying theyre anxious because the federal folks who are usually buying their services are sitting on the fence for the moment and wont do anything until after march 27th. Brown just a brief last word from you. What are you most focused on for 2013 . Well, if you take the sequestration out of the equation and you look just at the economy as it is now, i think what economists here are saying is most hopeful is the rebounding of the housing industry out here. Theyre starting to see activity in terms of prices, the shadow inventory of distressed housing has shuningen quite a bit there are still a lot of people who are underwater on their mortgage os. But overall the supply is tight. Theres buyer interest, and theres hope that it will become an engine again for the region. Brown he Erik Anderson, Stan Jastrzebski and cathy lewis, thank you all three. Woodruff online, find our monthly unemployment calculations on our making sense page, where we also look back at a year of labor data. Still to come on the newshour syrias unrelenting civil war; ohios reading guarantee; derailing the president s potential nominees; and shields and brooks. But first, the other news of the day. Heres hari sreenivasan. Sreenivasan the food and Drug Administration proposed the most farreaching food safety rules in decades today. Its a response to outbreaks of Food Poisoning that kill 3,000 americans every year. Under the new rules, farmers would have make sure that workers hands are washed and animals stay out of fields. And Food Companies have to submit new safety plans. Wall street managed some small gains to close out the week. The Dow Jones Industrial average added 44 points to end at 13,435. The nasdaq rose one point to close at 3,101. The s p 500 ended the day at 1,466, its best finish in five years. For the week, the dow gained nearly 4 ; the nasdaq rose almost 5 . President obamas reelection is now official. The 538 Electoral College votes were certified and tallied today in a joint session of congress. The president won 332 votes, far more than needed. Republican mitt romney was awarded 206. The president also won just over 51 of the popular vote, according to final counts. Hes the first since eisenhower to achieve that mark in both his runs for the white house. The house voted today to approve more than 9 billion for Flood Insurance claims from Hurricane Sandy. The Senate Quickly followed suit. The house vote came just days after Speaker John Boehner delayed a vote on a larger aid bill worth 60 billion. That decision sparked an outcry from northeastern republicans. Congressman peter king of new york argued today the funds are urgently needed for thousands who lost their homes. People are suffering. People are suffering and sufferingly increasing each day. I want to emphasize that this legislation is vital this is thought a handout this is not something we are looking for as a favor. What we are asking for is to be treateds same as victims in all other storms, all other natural disasters have been treated sreenivasan others in the republican ranks called for approving aid in installments and cutting spending elsewhere to offset the cost. But democrats like congressman Bill Pascrell of new jersey said there has to be action now. This is a total disaster in helping those people that we are purposefully saying today in pontificating about, were helping them. Isnt that wonderful, whats our jobs. Were to the doing anybody any favors. Thats why we were sent here. Try it once in a whiling dem october see. You may like it sreenivasan the house will vote on january 15 on an additional 51 billion in recovery aid. A former congresswoman who survived a mass shooting, gabrielle giffords, visited newtown, connecticut, today. It was three weeks to the day since the massacre at sandy hook elementary school. Giffords met with town officials, then with families of the victims. The arizona democrat was shot in the head two years ago. Six people were killed in the attack. A pakistani teenager has been released from a british hospital three months after the taliban tried to kill her for advocating education for girls. 15yearold Malala Yousufzai was airlifted there after being shot in the head in october in pakistans swat valley. Today, the hospital in birmingham, england, released video and photographs of malala waving to the staff and hugging her nurses as she left on thursday. For now, shell stay in britain with her family, and next month, shell have skull reconstruction surgery. Hundreds of thousands of palestinians rallied in gaza today in a rare show of support of the Fatah Movement there. The yellow flags of fatah were seen waving all over gaza in large squares, in processions, and from rooftops. It was the first such event since the rival group hamas seized power in gaza in 2007. Hamas approved todays rally, and its Prime Minister voiced hopes for reconciling differences over how to deal with israel. Those are some of the days major stories. Now, back to judy. Woodruff the war in syria reached another grim milestone this week. The United Nations estimated that the death toll from the almost twoyear long conflict has reached more than 60,000. Ray suarez has our report. Suarez a progovernment tv station in damascus played a patriotic dirge today over video from an earlymorning car bombing in a mainly sunni neighborhood. The blast killed at least 11 people, and wounded many more, as they stood in line at a gas station. A similar explosion on wednesday killed 30. The government blamed terrorists, its term for the rebels. The opposition claimed the assad regime planted the bomb in a disputed neighborhood. Elsewhere in the capital, Syrian Air Force fighterbombers streaked overhead. As day broke, one dropped its payload on the northeastern suburb of douma. It was all evidence of the escalating fight for damascus. The rebels now hold suburbs on the southern and eastern outskirts of the city. And to the north, a rebel assault on a key governm