Job growth painfully slow, Labor Dept. says

From the AP via the Houston Chronicle:

America's unemployment rate remained stuck at 5.6 percent in February as the economy added a paltry 21,000 positions. The figures dramatized the relative scarcity of new jobs in a week in which President Bush shoved his re-election campaign into high gear.

The latest snapshot of the employment climate released by the Labor Department today depicted the painfully slow job growth the country has been enduring. The net gain in payrolls in February fell well short of the 125,000 jobs that economists had been forecasting.

"Employers are still very, very cautious about adding bodies," said a disappointed Bill Cheney, chief economist at John Hancock. "If you are out there looking for a job, this is bad news," he said.

Moreover, the job gains in January were revised to show a pickup of just 97,000 positions, down from the 112,000 first estimated a month ago.

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Another round of tax cuts for the rich, anyone? I mean, that's what it'll take to get more jobs, right?

Maybe not.

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