The inherent contradiction in the term “jobless recovery” continues to cast a shadow on overdue good economic news. The Dow Jones Industrial average closed above 10,000 Wednesday for the first time in more than a year. But the national unemployment rate of 9.8 percent in September was the highest in more than a quarter century.<\/p>\n
As The Associated Press reported Thursday, though the economic recovery apparently has begun, it “is widely expected to be weak, particularly when it comes to employment.”<\/p>\n
And as The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, about 30,000 jobs “have been directly created or saved by contractors who received money” from the $787 billion federal stimulus package that President Barack Obama signed into law eight months ago. That’s far fewer than the 1 million jobs promised by the White House — and not nearly enough to make a dent in those ominous unemployment figures.<\/p>\n