Unemployment: Finally, some good news

The economy added 162,000 jobs. The first up tick in well over a year. A third of it came from the government hiring census workers, but still, a gain is a gain. Paul Krugman says, "the patient is in stable condition."

The road to recovery is going to be long and job growth will be slow. Why? Because companies have become slave masters in getting more out of their current employees. This increase in productivity is great for the long term health of our country. In the short term, however, most companies see no need to hire additional workers.

Update: Reading around the blogosphere I see that liberal economist Brad DeLong is very excited about today's numbers while conservative economist Greg Mankiw hasn't commented.