It was the biggest monthly gain for the depressed housing industry in more than a year.

Last year the average monthly gain was 159,000 workers, including a decline of nearly 14,000 factory jobs.

It is also a sharp contrast to the average monthly gains of around 24,000.

An increase of about 300,000, the monthly average gain last year, had been expected.

The consecutive monthly gains were the first in more than a year.

The economy had not posted consecutive monthly gains in almost two years.

And while 50,000 such jobs were gained last month, that is only a third of the average monthly gain from 1983 through 1990.

That is the largest monthly gain in new orders since December 1970.

It was the biggest monthly gain in retail sales since 2001.

The overall producer index is expected to show a large monthly gain of 0.5 percent.