Tripping Over The Facts In The Victory Lap - Behind The Employment Numbers

The Administration was almost giddy with excitement Friday after the the Labor Department reported that companies in the U.S. created more jobs in March than at any time in the past three years.

Message? "The economic recovery is underway. Hooray for us!"

Advertised Fact:

- Payrolls increased by 162,000 workers, the highest number of workers going back to work since March, 2007.


Facts behind the Facts (harder to explain and so they haven't):

- The 162,000 worker increase included 48,000 temporary Census workers.

- The long-term unemployed (more than 27 weeks) rose to more than 6.5 million.

- The percentage of people unemployed for 27 weeks or more also rose to a record 44.1% of all jobless.

- Average earnings per hour dropped last month.

- The number of people working part-time increased because they couldn’t find full-time work.

- 20.3% of the U.S. workforce was underemployed in March, higher than in January and February.

The facts behind the facts make the victory lap the Administration is running filled with potholes, but for now they're taking their victory lap as if they didn't exist.