Brighter jobs picture

The addition of 151,000 jobs in October is another sign that the economy is coming back - not roaring back, mind you, but enough to indicate that the recovery is for real. Another positive were revisions to the August and September reports to reflect better numbers than first announced. The jobless rate remained unchanged at 9.6 percent, pretty much where it's been for the last few months. From the NYT:

"The big picture from this report and some of the others recently all points to a pickup in growth in the beginning of the fourth quarter," said John Ryding, chief economist at RDQ Economics. "The notion that economy might be double-dipping can now be safely tossed out."

Among the sectors doing well: Professional and business services, retail, and health care. Manufacturing, however, lost jobs, as did leisure & hospitality. Perhaps the most sobering stat is that 6.2 million Americans were unemployed for more than 27 weeks - and that doesn't include discouraged workers who have given up looking for a job. The broader measure of unemployment, known as the U-6, is at 17 percent. Overall this is a good report, and certainly an improvement over the last few months, but it also reflects how long the recovery is likely to take.