Job Numbers Bad; Go Figure

I'm gonna go ahead and assume this was supposedly "unexpected:"

The nation’s employers failed to add new jobs in August, a strong signal that the economy has stalled and that policy makers can no longer afford inaction.

The dismal showing, the first time in 11 months that total payrolls did not rise, was the latest indication that the jobs recovery that began in 2010 lacked momentum. The unemployment rate for August did not budge, remaining at 9.1 percent.

As President Obama prepared to deliver a major proposal to bolster job creation next week, the report added to the pressure on the administration, on Republicans who have resisted any new stimulus spending, and on the Federal Reserve, which has been divided over the wisdom of using its limited arsenal of tools to get the economy moving again.

The White House immediately seized on the report as evidence that bold action was needed, calling the unemployment rate “unacceptably high.” Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis said in an interview that she hoped the president’s proposals would be embraced by Congress. “If they’re not supported, then he’s going to take it out to the public,” she said.

Republicans, in turn, argued that the numbers were further proof that the policies of Mr. Obama, whom they quickly dubbed “President Zero,” were not working. The lack of growth in nonfarm payrolls was well below the consensus forecast by economists of a 60,000 increase, which itself was none too optimistic. It was a sharp decline from July, which the Labor Department on Friday revised to show a gain of 85,000 jobs...

Though unexpectedly low, the jobs report may not change the mainstream view among economists that the economy will stay in growth mode, albeit at a level that is barely perceptible, much less comforting, to Americans without jobs.

Please bookmark!