Only Minor Details

According to Reuters, today’s employment data confirms that happy days are here again:

“Payrolls Up 192,000, Near Estimates; Rate Falls to 8.9%”

U.S. employers hired more workers in February than in any month since May last year and the unemployment rate fell to a near two-year low, the strongest sign yet the recovery has become self-sustaining.

Nonfarm payrolls increased 192,000, the Labor Department said on Friday, in line with expectations. Data for December and January was revised to show 58,000 more jobs created than previously estimated.

The last time payrolls grew so much was last May, when the government’s hiring of temporary workers for a census boosted payrolls hugely.

Still, the report does leave out a few salient details.

Like the fact that the average length of time that the unemployed are out of work has just hit a new record.

And the fact that a growing number of workers are leaving the labor force, most likely involuntarily.

And the fact that the broadest measure of unemployment, U-6 unemployment (i.e., total number of unemployed, plus all marginally-attached workers, plus total employed part-time for economic reasons, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all marginally-attached workers) is not far off its historic highs.

But those are just minor details. Right?