.....the raw numbers should resist any call of this as good news:

   

In November, both the number of unemployed persons, at 15.4 million, and the unemployment rate, at 10.0 percent, edged down. At the start of the recession in December 2007, the number of unemployed persons was 7.5 million, and the jobless rate was 4.9 percent.

    Among the major worker groups, unemployment rates for adult men (10.5 percent), adult women (7.9 percent), teenagers (26.7 percent), whites (9.3 percent), blacks (15.6 percent), and Hispanics (12.7 percent) showed little change in November. The unemployment rate for Asians was 7.3 percent, not seasonally adjusted.

Discouraged workers and long-term unemployed actually edged up, which may account for the decline in the overall jobless rate.

Among the major worker groups, unemployment rates for adult men (10.5 percent), adult women (7.9 percent), teenagers (26.7 percent), whites (9.3 percent), blacks (15.6 percent), and Hispanics (12.7 percent) showed little change in November. The unemployment rate for Asians was 7.3 percent, not seasonally adjusted.

Discouraged workers and long-term unemployed actually edged up, which may account for the decline in the overall jobless rate. FDL

In November, both the number of unemployed persons, at 15.4 million, and the unemployment rate, at 10.0 percent, edged down. At the start of the recession in December 2007, the number of unemployed persons was 7.5 million, and the jobless rate was 4.9 percent.

If it weren't for public and gov't work there'd be no work at all.  As is always the case in hard times.

It takes 18 months for our industry to feel the full effects and that time is just about coming due.   Projects that where started before the crash are finishing up and all material and product orders have happened.

No one is hiring and most companies are using the weak economy as an excuse to streamline.   We are currently furloughing as are the suppliers and customers we work with.

I know of no company that would even consider hiring in 2010.   We may have hit the bottom but there is no end in sight.

Pile on the uncertainty that the squabble over health care and energy has produced and no company is making any moves to add employees.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/208633

The job market is always a lag behind the economy for obvious reasons.

For those who said it is not as good as jobs being created ... sure. However, it is the TREND that is important. These things have momentum and usually don't reverse itself unless there is a huge external shock (such as another war break out).

taking some of the pressure off of President Obama to come up with a wide-ranging jobs creation program.

Economists are expecting that the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics will report that between 114,000 and 125,000 jobs were lost in November. If the BLS numbers come anywhere close to the lower end, it will be the smallest job loss since the recession began in December 2007.

While the losses have been diminishing, they are seemingly unrelenting. This morning the ADP National Employment Report said 169,000 private sector jobs were lost in November. It's the eighth consecutive month of declines in lost jobs and the lowest loss since July 2008.

Makes absolutely no sense.  Now i expect a bigger jump in January or February but with the shock of this latest number i couldn't even fake a prediction.

Because of the near-certain loss of jobs for the next few months and the slow recovery, it is a very real possibility that unemployment will still be well over 10% a year from now.

Even with robust growth of 200,000 jobs a month thereafter for the next two years, unemployment will still be close to or over 9%. That would only be an additional 1.8 million jobs (making the most optimistic assumptions) over the new jobs needed for population growth.

Lots of charty goodness here:  http://www.investorsinsight.com/blogs/thoughts_from_the_frontline/archive/2009/09/25/welcome-to-the- new-normal.aspx

What's the unemployment rate when you don't leave out those "discouraged" workers, and take out those who only have a part-time job because that's all there was?

How many jobs with benefits have been lost versus how many have been gained?

How many applicants are there on average for each opening?

Did anyone report the U6 number?

A few interesting notes.

"That fact, however, says nothing about the program's efficacy. If anything, it suggests the $787 billion stimulus was too small."

Since 1948 this recession rates as follows:

Longest, 20 months -- average 10
Highest GDP drop -3.9 --  avg 2.0
Industrial Production -19.6% -- avg -8.3
Largest change in jobless rate = 5.9% avg -- 7.6

All of the above are the worst since 1948.

"The fiscal stimulus is also working."

"The part of the stimulus providing the biggest bang for the buck--the most economic activity per federal dollar spent--is the extension of unemployment insurance benefits (see Table 3). Workers who lose their jobs before the end of 2009 can temporarily receive more UI, food stamps, and help with health insurance payments. Without this extra help, laid-off workers and their families would be slashing their own spending, leading to the loss of even more jobs."

"Whatever the reason, unless hiring resumes soon, the severe stress in the job market will not abate. With nearly 26 million workers--17% of the workforce--unemployed or underemployed, and those with jobs working a record-low number of hours, workers' nominal compensation threatens to decline."

"It is a tragedy that the nation has been forced to spend so much to tame the financial crisis and end the Great Recession. Yet it has been money well spent. The fiscal stimulus is working to ensure that the recent dark economic times will soon be relegated to the history books."

Zandi was an advisor to McCain during his campaign, although McCain would say after he heard that Zandi thought the stimulus was too small "I had lots of advisors".  

if you get a chance, read his testimony it is one of the better reads on the situation out there.....