New Jobless Numbers ?

The department of labor releases it’s February jobs report tomorrow ahead of this release the news seems to be rushing to say that the winter storms over the last month may affect the numbers by as much as a 100,000. While I am sure the weather plays a part, I don’t see that it can possibly be blamed for the over 17.4 Million unemployed we currently have in this country. See my post of 2/5/10 for a refresher on how those numbers are put together. How Many People Are Unemployed in America

What I can glean from this is the white house is already spinning the numbers for the best possible outlook while separate sources like the LA times quote reports of the loss of over 20,000 private sector
Jobs in February. Others crow about the slowing amount of new unemployment a claims which at this point really means that most of the layoffs have already happened. NPR reports that the boost to the employment numbers the temporary Census jobs will create are looked forward to with anticipation.

 We have now sunk so low that we are supposed to be excited over the mostly low paying census jobs?

USA Today reports

It's a thin silver lining to the financial crisis as high unemployment and economic uncertainty make recruiting 3.8 million Census workers this year and next a lot easier. The hiring binge is adding jobs that pay $10 to $34 an hour and may last a week to two years across the USA: 7,000 people in the next 18 months in Montana and northern Wyoming; more than 800 people in Kern County, Calif.; 800 in Vermont. The New York regional office, which includes New York City and 10 counties in New Jersey, will need about 6,000 people this spring.

The vaunted jobs bill just passed by the Senate has very little to do with jobs and a whole lot to do with pork. The bill is primarily a boon to state highway construction projects and will mostly reduce the number of layoffs of state workers and may possibly create a few very low paying minimum wage jobs. The $35 Billion dollar bill is poorly written makes little or no impact on the issue of job creation and seems to be the best that that the house and senate can do. No major legislation has been passed by both houses since the TARP when they gave Trillions of dollars to Wall Street. Where did all that money go?