I enjoyed listening to pundits talking this morning about how boring the monthly “Jobs Report” was. Compared to expectations of 160 thousand new jobs, only 145 thousand were created last month. Big Deal! The unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.5% — a 50 year low. The U-6 level of under-employment dropped to 6.7% — a new record low. Ho-Hum!
This is welcome boredom — remembering the scary days at the end of the Bush administration when the economy was in free fall. When Obama took office, there was no question of how many jobs were created – it was how many jobs were lost each month. I still remember the pundits gasping when 600 thousand workers lost their job in one month. Unemployment rose to a whopping 10.6% within a year, but fortunately dropped to only 4.5% when he eventually left office. That was way too much drama.
