We already know that one key way to make more money and stay employed is to get more education.

Now a new report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics adds another piece of evidence that it usually pays off, literally, to shoot for that master’s degree or higher.

The BLS this week released a detailed forecast for how it expects the job market to change in the current decade (the ’10s?).

Among the findings: Jobs that require some sort of postsecondary degree for entry are expected to grow at the fastest clip from 2010 to 2020.

The report found that jobs that require a masters’ degree or more are projected to grow by 21.7 percent over that decade, to a little more than 2.4 million total jobs, compared with just 12.2 percent growth in jobs that require only a high school diploma.

The U.S. economy is like a flywheel: It takes a lot to get it going. Once it starts moving, it can pick up speed pretty quickly.

To see why, look no further than Friday’s jobs report, which offered convincing evidence that the U.S. recovery is finally gaining momentum.

After months of subpar growth in their payrolls, American companies added 243,000 new jobs in January, considerably more than the 150,000 that forecasters expected. That drove the unemployment rate down from 8.5 percent in December to 8.3 percent, extending a rapid decline from 9.1 percent last August.

Since last fall, a series of economic reports have pointed to gradual improvement. But the January employment report tore the cover off the ball.

But ask them how they got that way. The employees of one McDonald’s are not happy. They have to run labor at the percent that they did before min. wage began going up. I can see them making money, but not at the way they want to cut help and run with less help and more business.

(Reuters) – McDonald’s Corp is poised to report robust December sales from U.S. restaurants open at least 13 months, according to a survey of U.S. franchisees.

Thirty McDonald’s franchisees — who together operate 212 of the more than 14,000 McDonald’s restaurants in the United States — reported an aggregate 9.1 percent rise in same-restaurant sales for December, Janney Capital Markets analyst Mark Kalinowski said in a client note.

The analyst, whose surveys are closely followed by investors, boosted his forecast for U.S. December same-restaurant sales growth to match results from the poll.

The recent improvement in the job market comes as welcome news for President Obama as he struggles to answer GOP attacks on the campaign trail that he’s mismanaged the economic recovery. There are a lot of reasons, though, that it may be too early for the White House to start cheering about jobs.

There’s no shortage of issues vying for voter attention as the 2012 presidential campaign kicks into gear. But with unemployment stuck above 8.5 percent for the 34th month in a row, the job market likely will top the list until the November election.

The White House hammered on the issue again week, as the president rolled out yet another round of job-creation proposals at a meeting with business leaders in the White House. This one is aimed at “insourcing” jobs that have been lost to overseas companies.

The government offered fresh data Tuesday showing that the job market is gradually improving. But there still aren’t enough jobs to go around.

Even as hiring picked up in November, the number of jobs openings declined, according the Labor Departments’ monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS).

Employers filled nearly 4.15 million jobs in November, up from a low of 3.6 million in October 2009 — the lowest level in the 10 years the government has tracked the figure. That pickup mirrors the improvement shown in the Labor Department’s monthly employment surveys of households and employers. But it still badly lags the pace in the three years before the recession hit, when employers were signing up more than 5 million new hires each month.

WICHITA, Kan. — The Boeing Co., for decades the brand that helped support Wichita’s claim as the aviation capital of the world, announced Wednesday it will shut down facilities in the city by the end of 2013 and send work to plants in three other states as it deals with defense spending cutbacks.

The closure will cost more than 2,160 workers their jobs and end the firm’s presence in an area where it has been a major employer for generations.

OYAMA-CHO, Japan (Reuters) – Toyota Motor Corp <7203.T> unveiled a highly anticipated sports car that it hopes will trigger the rebirth of the company as a maker of “fun” cars that it hasn’t been in years.

Japan’s top automaker took the wraps off the compact, rear-wheel-drive model at the Fuji Speedway circuit at the foot of Mount Fuji on Sunday, in front of thousands of racing fans, in a departure from traditional banquet-room launches.

Last year Hyundai entertained — or annoyed — television viewers with advertisements featuring carol-singing hipsters. This year, the automaker is taking a different tack in early radio ads, urging listeners to “give yourself a gift” of a new Hyundai this holiday season.

Retailers, struggling with sluggish consumer spending are pulling out all the stops to get shoppers, including pushing gift-buying for your best friend –- yourself.

Apparel retailer J Crew debuted a campaign with the tag line “To: You — From: You.” Shoppers can barely escape the “buy it for yourself” message on the website of online footwear megastore Zappos.com: Nearly every holiday-themed landing page includes text urging browsers to pick up a pair of boots or something else for themselves. Even Starbucks ran a “One for you, one for me” holiday promotion.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — The city of Fort Smith, Ark., got hit with a double whammy on Friday, as one factory closed down and another faced imminent demise.

Whirlpool Corp. (WHR, Fortune 500) said it will shut down its factory next year, putting about 1,000 people will be out of work, in addition to the 800 lay offs that have already occurred at the appliance plant.

On the same day, Fortis Plastics shuttered its doors, resulting in another 90 lost jobs.

Mayor Sandy Sanders, who worked at Whirlpool for 32 years in human resources, acknowledged the “dwindling” demand in the area of manufacturing, noting that 5,000 people had worked at the factory when he retired in 1998.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — U.S. stocks ended a strong week on a low note Friday as ongoing concerns about the European debt crisis overshadowed a better-than-expected report on the U.S. job market.

The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) fell 20 points, or 0.2%, to close at 11,103. The S&P 500 (SPX) lost 9 points, or 0.8%, to 1,155. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite (COMP) dropped 27 points, or 1.1%, 2,479.

Despite the poor performance Friday, all three indexes posted gains for the week. The Dow rose 1.7%, the S&P 500 added 2.1% and the Nasdaq rose 2.6% over the last five days.

The gains were driven largely by speculation that European leaders are warming to the idea of pumping more money into troubled banks. On Thursday, the European Central Bank announced plans to increase the flow of capital to the banking system.

Senate Republicans sought Tuesday to force an immediate vote on President Obama’s jobs plan in a ploy reacting to the President’s nationwide barnstorm to push for a vote “right away” on the measure.

Holding a copy of the President’s plan on the Senate floor this afternoon, Republican Leader Mitch McConnell moved to vote this week on the bill that he dubbed “Stimulus II.” McConnell said he was responding to calls from the White House, including the president today, to hold a vote now.

“I think he’s entitled to a vote. It won’t surprise anyone to know I don’t think it’s a good approach, a way that’s unlikely to create jobs, but he’s asked for a vote and I think we ought to accommodate the president of the United States on a matter that he has been speaking about frequently over the last few weeks and give him his vote,” McConnell said.

Strong demand for full-size pickups and SUVs drove up General Motors’ U.S. sales last month, the automaker said Monday.

GM reported total sales of 207,145 vehicles in September — a 20 percent increase over the same month a year ago. Truck sales, which include full-size pickups and SUVs, jumped 34 percent, while sales of passenger cars rose 12 percent over September 2010.

“For GM, all of the factors that say this is a good time to buy a new vehicle outweigh the bad news that appears to be slowing down the broader economic recovery,” said Don Johnson, vice president for U.S. sales.