US jobs numbers: Sadly, nothing to be excited about writes the Washington Examiner

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, or BLS, the economy added 114,000 jobs last month, and unemployment is now at 7.8 percent. The public excitement triggered by that latter number tells you a lot about how low our expectations are about the economy.

BLS data shows that there are still 61,000 fewer people employed today than in January 2009. This is disconcerting to say the least and tells you how slow this recovery has been. Also, while the unemployment rate for most of the work force is 7.1 percent, youth unemployment is 15.7 percent. Also, as Keith Hall, my colleague at the Mercatus Center and former commissioner of the BLS, explained last week, “Those lucky enough to get a job but unlucky enough to graduate during a recession will take a 9 percent hit on pay right off the bat. It usually takes as long as a decade to climb out of that hole.”

It gets worse: Several indicators point to the fact that these unemployment figures understate the severity of the situation. For instance, a large share of the drop in the unemployment rate is due to the fact that in September a massive number of people looking for full-time employment have settled for part-time jobs to survive until the economy recovers. In September, there was an increase of 582,000 in the number of workers employed in part-time jobs. In other words, more people are underemployed…

http://washingtonexaminer.com/the-jobs-numbers-sadly-nothing-to-be-excited-about/article/2510473#.UHnpq2t5mSM