Jobs Report Termed Disappointing

The Labor Department announced today that the nation added 96,000 payroll jobs in September, a number that will be considered disappointing. The Department also revised its March 2004 jobs estimate upward by adding 236,000 jobs to the total estimated for the year ending in March.
We have remarked a number of times on the shortcomings of the payroll jobs data, but at this point the number’s only significance is political. With the release of the universally-misreported Duelfer report yesterday and the jobs figure today, the stars seem to be aligning with the Democrats–on paper, at least–for tonight’s debate. In any event, John Kerry certainly won’t lack for material.

Notice: All comments are subject to moderation. Our comments are intended to be a forum for civil discourse bearing on the subject under discussion. Commenters who stray beyond the bounds of civility or employ what we deem gratuitous vulgarity in a comment — including, but not limited to, “s***,” “f***,” “a*******,” or one of their many variants — will be banned without further notice in the sole discretion of the site moderator.

Responses