This may be the first time I’ve seen news reports on increasing joblessness in which the worsening of the job market was not declared to be a “surprise.” (See here and here.) The fact that this lousy jobs report wasn’t declared “surprising” may be a sign of people coming to terms with reality.
Just as a reminder: Total employment in the United States is still down more than 6 percent from its November 2007 peak, which means there are now 8.5 million fewer jobs than there were in late 2007.
This assessment does not take into account underemployment or declines in wage rates.
