Political pundits are busy this morning cranking out theories and scenarios regarding the NEWS that jobs growth in January was considerably higher than expected.
For example, Nate Silver, our favorite numbers-cruncher, has THIS long and complicated blog post in which he says that the “magic number” in monthly jobs growth is 150,000 if President Obama is going to have a chance to be re-elected in November. The January figure was 243,000 jobs.
Nor were last month’s figures the only good news in the Labor Department’s report this morning. As Ed Kilgore NOTES, the jobs numbers for November and December 2011, which were expected to be revised downward, were instead revised upward.”
Meanwhile, Dan Amira says HERE that the new unemployment figures run counter to Mitt Romney’s claim that the economy has worsened on Obama’s watch.
But let’s not kid ourselves. The unemployment picture is still a troubling one. Nor do the encouraging numbers in recent months spell a likely electoral juggernaut for Obama in November. Lots of things can and will happen between now and then, and not all of them will be good news. By no means is the economy out of the woods.
But, from the White House perspective, these latest figures are far better than a proverbial sharp stick in the eye.
