Still a Jobless Recovery?

Ryan Avent:

America's jobless recovery: So this is the new year?: LOOK almost anywhere in the recent economic data and the signs point to an accelerating recovery..... [But] the Bureau of Labour Statistics has dropped a puzzler of an employment report in our laps—one which points in many directions but not, decidedly, toward strong job growth. In the month of January, total nonfarm employment grew by a very disappointing 39,000 jobs.... The BLS included its annual revision of the previous year's data in this report, and while job growth over the year looks stronger than before, the level of employment looks worse. In March of last year, 411,000 fewer Americans were working than originally reported. And thanks to a weaker employment performance in April through October, 483,000 fewer Americans were on the job in December than was originally believed to be the case. For now, the economy remains 7.7m jobs short of its previous employment peak.

The labour market picture becomes foggier still when one turns to the household survey data. America's unemployment rate fell 0.4 percentage points in January for a second consecutive month, dropping the rate to 9.0%.... [T]he employment-population ratio actually rose for the month, thanks to a reported decline in the population of working adults.... [S]tripping out the annual [population] adjustment... the household survey... show[s] a slight rise in the labour force and a substantial gain in employment (of 589,000) nearly equal to the drop in unemployment (of 590,000)...