There is no way to put a happy face on it. The March 2013 jobs report is very bad news. While the civilian non-institutional population increased by 167,000 people, the labor force shrank by 496,000 as huge numbers of Americans continue to give up finding a job.
As a result, the labor force participation rate fell to 63.3 percent. Not since the Jimmy Carter era of 1979 has the participation rate been so low.
An anemic 88,000 jobs were created in March according to the Labor Department; less than half the 200,000 analysts were expecting, and far short of enough to even keep pace with population growth.
A few weeks back, Joe Biden proclaimed that Americans are "no longer worried about the economy." But, then, Joe's been wrong about a lot of things before.
Today, 46 percent rate the economy as "poor" while just 14 percent believe it is at least "good." And, nearly 60 percent believe we are in a recession again. Regardless of Biden's fantasy, if people were worried before, the new jobs report will do nothing to reduce anxiety levels.
