Up, down, all around. Who can remember?
But other numbers from Friday tell a less positive story. The unemployment rate held steady at 7.6 percent, because more people were looking for work than in the previous month. And 332,000 people said they were working part-time because of economic conditions, rather than by choice. At the same time, long-term unemployment remains acute. Of the 11.8 million unemployed workers, more than 4.3 million have been out of work for 27 weeks or more.
Why don't we just extend the unemployment benefits again? Gubbamint can cushion the blow!
The reality is that the economy isn't employing nearly as large a share of the potential workforce as it once did. An analysis from the Economic Policy Institute compared the percentage of the working-age population employed today with the levels before the recession. In early 2007, 63.3 percent of working-age Americans had a job. The latest report pegs that percentage at just 58.7 percent.
A somewhat fairer measure of conditions then and now is the ratio for those of prime working age. The percentage of people between the ages of 25 and 54 who were employed in early 2007 was 80 percent. It dropped to 74.8 percent in late 2009. Although it has risen since then, it is still just 75.9 percent.
So those folks are all unemployed/underemployed.
Obama made the election a referendum on middle-class anxiety and asked voters to choose the candidate they trusted more with their futures.
Not that sleazeball Romney!
He has continued to talk about those themes since his reelection, but they have not been his principal focus.
Talking is his principle focus.
Nah. Golf...
What's been missing is a sense that the middle-class agenda remains at the core of his presidency.
Republicans don't offer much, either. Some have talked about the need to develop new policies designed to help struggling middle-class families, but there is neither a consensus nor a sense of urgency inside the party on this front.
It's hard to lead when you don't have control of the government to make your proposals into law.
Instead, most Republicans have taken every opportunity to claim that the Affordable Care Act is the major cause of economic problems and are doing what they can to make its implementation more difficult.
They sense it's popularity, but maybe they should just let it take effect.
Congress shows little ability to deal with multiple issues at the same time. Immigration now dominates the agenda on Capitol Hill, with the focus shifting this week to the House.
What's the media covering again?
For now, Congress has punted on the budget, having allowed sequestration to take effect rather than find a bipartisan solution. Across-the-board cuts continue to squeeze spending, and although it may not be as draconian in its economic impact as some (such as the president) had predicted, the sequester is no substitute for a real budget or an economic policy.Economic experts said the recovery would take years, and as a result no one expects miracle cures. But when the unemployment rate ticks down ever so slowly and the broader problem of wage stagnation keeps many families on the edge financially, it's surprising that more effort isn't going into an issue that both the public and the politicians still say is the nation's most acute problem.
It doesn't make Champ look good, so it's not news.