Employment rate in the United States grew steadily for the second straight month in March, as the unemployment rate dropped at 8.8 percent. The shift in trends in the labor market is likely to help the United States recover from economic crisis in the past few years.

The Department of Labor said Friday that the nonfarm payroll has increased by 216,000 last month. The gain was pre-empted by 194,000 new positions that opened February 2011.

As a result of the very favorable pace of job growth lately, the unemployment rate has been pulled down ever since November 2011. Reports said that the decrease from November to March is the greatest decline since 1984.

An independent result also indicated that there is an elevation in factory activity March this year. This means there would be more jobs in the industrial area in the United States.

However, economist Julia Coronado said that although these reports tell us that our economy is slowly regaining strength, it also means that the United States has a very long way to go in terms of employment.

The U.S. economy is clearly gaining momentum but it has only recovered a small fraction of what it has lost during the recession. There are said to be 8 million jobs lost when a recession hit the U.S.

Many Wall Street investors are more than pleased with the reports. They also cheered the modest augment to the U.S government bond and the strengthening U.S. dollar exchange rate against the Japanese yen.

Many investors who viewed target date funds as a relatively safe investment were rudely shocked when in 2008 the average fund with a stated target date of 2010 reported a loss of 24.6%. Investors believed that a fund that was investing for someone just two years away from retirement would have had a mixture of investments that would be less vulnerable to a sell -off in the equity markets.

Congress, the SEC and the Department of Labor have each conducted their own investigation and publicly asked for more transparency and possibly implement new rules on disclosure.

Have there been retirement investing within date targeted funds shifts? There has not been any change at least according to Vanguard Group, which has maintained its mandate of 68% equities 10 years before the target date at which time equities will be 50%.

However, the shifts do not necessarily have to be as clearly defined as a simple change in the equity allocations. Some portfolio managers are adding a more diverse mix of assets to their portfolios by using REITS, Inflation protected securities, commodity funds and by increasing exposure overseas to both developed and emerging markets. Fidelity and Vanguard, among the leaders of 401(k) managers, have increased international exposure from 20% to 30%.

Target date funds are mutual funds that follow a predetermined glide path, which is simply a change in the broad allocations that will occur between now and the targeted date. Lincolnshire Ill. consulting firm Aon Hewitt, Who deals mainly with benefits, states that more than 80% of 401(k) plans have target date funds available.

An aerialist fell while giving their preview performance of the Broadway Show “Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark” last night. The stuntman was admitted to the Bellevue Hospital Center, and according to the hospital spokeswoman the patient is in serious condition.

The “Spider-Man” spokesman Rick Miramotez said in an e-mail that the accident happened approximately seven minutes before the end of the show. Christopher W. Tiemey fell from a platform, and from there the show was stopped.

Videos taken by the audiences show the actor leaping from a platform with an attached cable. The cable appears to be breaking as the actor tries to save the heroine. He was then seen falling into a dark area in front of the stage.

The injured stuntman, only 31 years old, fell around 20 to 30 feet in height according to the New York City Fire Department spokesperson.

Minerva Joubert, the hospital spokeswoman, explained in a phone interview that someone in serious condition is actually an ill patient whose vital signs may not be stable and not within the normal limits. However, she declined to give more details regarding Tiemey’s condition.

The State Department of Labor, as well as the actors union are inspecting the sets and machinery found at the Foxwoods Theater. They are already discussing backup safety measures according to Maria Somma, the spokeswoman for the Actor’s Equity Association.

The show’s official opening has already been postponed for the second time. Presently, it is scheduled to open on February 7.