© Sandy Huffaker/Getty ImagesCurrent and former military personnel stand in line while checking in at the Opportunity Job Fair at the old Naval Training Center in San Diego, California. The economy created far fewer jobs than expected in August, adding to evidence that the recovery remains in low gear.
With job growth stuck a slower pace than in any recovery in the last half century, the presidential campaign now turns on which candidate -- President Barack Obama or Gov. Mitt Romney -- has the better plan to boost employment. The latest jobs data will do little to change the debate.
The economy added just 96,000 new jobs in August, well below the roughly 130,000 economists had been expecting. Gains in the prior two months were revised down by a combined 41,000. Manufacturers cut 15,000 jobs last month, while another 7,000 government jobs were lost. Temporary employment fell by almost 5,000 workers.
Other recent employment measures have painted a somewhat better picture. Fewer people applied for unemployment benefits last week, and a private survey by payroll processor ADP found that companies created some 200,000 new jobs in August. Another private report showed that service sector companies, such as hotels, retailers, and financial services firms, expanded at a faster rate last month.
Comment: 4 years into the Great Recession and everyone's still playing the optimist card. Europe (Euro) is collapsing with Spain, Italy and Greece growing more enslaved to the IMF and World Bank. It's not a sputtering economy, it's simply that money isn't moving from the hands with it to the hands without it. Bank loans are stifled as each (propped up, fake) economic bubble continues to pop.
Here's something you might consider in preparation for what's to come: Social Harmony in Times of Global Dischord
You can of course keep on dreamin', as if the following were not reality.