Initial claims for unemployment insurance dropped last week and productivity increased modestly. Does the data mean hiring is back on track?

Last week's initial claims for unemployment are out, and they seem to resume a positive jobs trend that had been interrupted by a couple of hiccups in recent weeks.

The number of employed Americans has nearly doubled over the past 30 years, but so has the number of people not in the workforce. Watch the U.S. employment picture change with our animated GIF.

Commentator Robert Reich says a steady march of technology leaves increasingly obsolete jobs in its wake.

Reviewing the week's headlines on Wall Street and beyond. This week: debating jobs. The new numbers and the presidential candidates' vague answers of what policies they'd use to boost employment.

Newly hired, unemployed and looking, discouraged and out of work: Meet five Los Angeles area residents who put faces on the September employment picture.

U.S. employers added 114,000 jobs in September, according to the Labor Department's latest report. Economists say that it's a slightly positive indicator -- but not a particularly strong one. Many say that even more jobs needed to be created to keep the economy growing. The drop in the unemployment rate may reflect revisions to data out during the summer that may be stronger than originally thought.

We’re getting another pulse check on housing later this morning. The numbers on new home sales for August come out today, and they’re expected to be pretty good. How does an uptick in housing affect the job market? Turns out, they are pretty closely linked.

Last week claims for unemployment were down, but just a bit, by about 3,000.