Bush's Economic Indicator: 2 New Jobs (washingtonpost.com)

Bush's Economic Indicator: 2 New Jobs (washingtonpost.com)

President Bush rhapsodized Thursday about the possibility that a stock-car firm in this hot, dry community will add two jobs this year, as he refined his campaign message of economic optimism.

February Job Growth Sucked

The number of non-farm jobs increased by only 21,000 in February, well short of expectations for an increase of 125,000 jobs -- dramatically short of the steady 200,00 to 300,000 per month job creation rate economists consider necessary to produce a recovery in the job market.

The unemployment rate itself held steady at 5.6 percent, with 8.2 million people unemployed. But almost 400,000 people left the job market discouraged. And January's job growth was revised downward from original figures from about 120,000 to 97,000.

"It's had to imagine a more negative reading of the labor market," said Larry Mishel, president of the liberal Economic Policy Institute. "The private sector created no jobs. Wage growth is minimal. Four hundred thousand people dropped out of the labor market."