Employment situation: mildly grim

The jobs report is, as Felix Salmon notes, pretty dreadful. The payroll and the household surveys agree that the number of jobs fell; and since a large number of people left the labor force, the level of unemployment might well be worse than it looks. I think it's rather unlikely that we'll skirt a recession--if we aren't in one already.

This article available online at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2008/03/employment-situation-mildly-grim/2912/