Some analysts are focusing on the positive in the jobs report: a gain in temporary jobs, decent hiring outside construction, and a drop in the jobless rate.
But these silver linings shouldn't cloud the depth of the labor market's woes. Factoring in a modest 12,000 drop in private payrolls in January and revisions to prior data that wiped out another 1.4 million jobs, private nonfarm payrolls were at their lowest level since November 1998.
In all, 8.5 million private-sector jobs have been lost since December 2007. Meanwhile, over the 11 years of zero private-sector job creation, 2.4 million government jobs have been added. Virtually all of those gains have come at the state and local level.
Nonfarm payrolls don't include the self-employed or farm workers. But if you factor in those two categories, the absence of private-sector job growth would extend back even further. According to the BLS household survey, farm jobs have been on a steady decline while the size of the self-employed population has budged very little.
As IBD noted recently, there are a few possible interpretations to the dearth of private-sector job creation. Those who don't see a continuing jobless recovery make the case that payrolls have been cut to the bone and will spring back, at least somewhat, to keep pace with even modest demand growth.
An alternative perspective is that the nation's job-creating machine is badly broken and needs to be repaired. Some might disagree whether a government or less-government solution is required.
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