The Job Numbers For September: Grimmer Than It Looks

This morning’s job numbers are bad enough - 263,000 more jobs lost in September, and unemployment now at 9.8 percent - but look behind them and the news is even grimmer. The only reason the numbers don’t look worse is that 571,000 workers dropped out of the labor force. Remember, too, that the economy needs about 125,000 new jobs every month just to keep up with a growing population. So we’re even further behind.

The numbers would be even worse but for the stimulus package. According to an analysis by the Economic Policy Institute, the stimulus is saving or creating between 200,000 and 250,000 jobs a month. Without it, job losses in September would have been nearly twice what they actually were.

State governments, meanwhile, continue to shed employees. Here’s one of the most depressing statistics I’ve seen (if you need any additional ones): Some 15,600 teachers didn’t return to work in September. They were laid off. So our classrooms are bigger, we have fewer teachers, and our students are presumably learning less — at the very time when they need to be learning more than ever.

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