Stocks rallied to the finish line Friday as tech stocks surged after some encouraging comments from Intel's CEO. Investors breathed a sigh of a relief after the August jobs report, which showed the unemployment rate hit a 26-year high but layoffs seemed to be tapering off.

Stocks pushed higher after a wobbly start Friday as investors digested a mixed jobs report: The unemployment rate hit a 26-year high but layoffs seemed to be tapering off.

Stock index futures are, at the moment … irrelevant. Investors can safely say that the direction of the market at the open won't be determined until 8:30 am New York time, when the August employment report is released. 

Unemployment hit 8.9 percent in April and some predict that number could climb to over 10 percent in 2009 as major companies streamline operations to combat the recession.  But how far can this streamlining really go? For many companies, revenues hinge on worker productivity, and for most operations, per-worker profits and revenues are many multiples of average employee salaries. The measure of revenue per employee also helps shed light on a firm's money-making efficiency and likelihood it will retain jobs. The best companies require  the least number of workers to make the most money.