Great News! Everyone's Working Again!

Did you hear the good news this morning? Everyone's working again!

U.S. Payrolls Grew by 431,000 in May; Jobless Rate Fell to 9.7%

Employers added 431,000 nonfarm jobs nationwide in May, the biggest increase in a single month since the recession, the Labor Department just said!

*ahem* the bulk of the "growth" was in government jobs, driven by hiring for the Census, and private-sector job growth was weak. So, we added people to the dole, and increased the burden on the working people -- while there were fewer working people supporting the dole. Got that? When you felt the weight load get heavier - it was a bunch of Census workers jumping on your back.

The unemployment rate fell to 9.7 percent nationwide, from 9.9 percent in April, the department said. If you count it the way they do.

The figures for May represented the fifth consecutive month that payrolls have risen, but fell below analysts' expectations that 540,000 jobs would be added to the economy.