Unemployment versus No Employment

Good news, my unemployed friends! Our great nation's unemployment rate in July dipped to the laughably miniscule (or not!) 6.2%. Wonderful news! Beautiful day! No more beans and rice for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, the masses sing. Oh wait, you mean there's a difference between unemployment going down and number of places offering NO EMPLOYMENT going up?

The nation's unemployment rate declined to 6.2 percent in July as nearly half a million discouraged Americans stopped looking for a job. Payrolls were cut for the sixth month in a row, suggesting that businesses remain cautious and want to keep work forces leans despite budding signs of an economic revival.

The Labor Department's report Friday pained a picture of a job market that remains stubbornly sluggish and continues to frustrate people looking for work.

The economy lost 44,000 jobs in July. While that's an improvement from the 72,000 shed in June, economists were hoping that positions would actually be added. They were forecasting payrolls to go up by around 10,000.

Although the jobless rate dipped to a two-month low of 6.2 percent from a nine-year high of 6.4 percent in June, much of decline's July represented the exodus of 470,000 discouraged people who abandoned job searches because they believed no jobs were available.

Oh, lest ye Republicans worry about the reelection chances of your chosen son, we almost get yer weapons fer ya. Ahem, on second thought, or do we?