150,000 used to be the baseline for jobs that needed to be created each month in America to keep up with new labor force entrants. Talking heads in the Bush administration and elsewhere have since pushed down this figure first to 125,000 or so...and now...100,000. Talk about diminishing expectations. At this rate, a net non-farm payroll number of zero should suffice before Dubya exits stage (far) right. Perhaps they'll explain that more and more people are choosing that ever-popular "life-of-leisure" category. Nevermind that, in February, Uncle Sam did a heck of a lot of hiring:
A 39,000 increase in government hiring boosted the payroll figures. The gain in private employment, 58,000 workers, was the smallest since October 2005.
So there you have it. Be happy with
97,000. We might soon be longing for these glory days.
