According to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics employment data, the economy lost 20,000 more jobs during the month of January.
The unemployment rate dipped slightly to 9.7% - which you might think was a good thing. Unfortunately, though, that was due to a shrinking labor force (the number of people who have given up looking for work increased sharply).
The bigger headline was the significant downward revision of the number of jobs lost since the recession began, plunging from an already dismal 7.2 million to 8.4 million.
Ouch.
The number of people who have been unemployed six months or longer increased to 6.3 million.
Bottom line: a whole lot of jobs have to be created – and there’s not much hiring going on right now.
Led Zeppelin had it right: The song remains the same.
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