9.9%

Unemployment ROSE to 9.9% this past month, and the media is spinning it as 'good news' because jobs were added... yes, jobs are being added after a long drought of jobs, but we have more workers looking for work, and the broader unemployment measure, by including discouraged workers, hit 17.1% in April.
The 17% number means is that we have a large pool of unemployed and under-employed people who will be seeking opportunities should they arise. If they don't they stay on as the large long-term unemplo. We have 6 million fewer private sector jobs now than in 2006, and many of that 17% were in that group.

The good news on the jobs front is strong enough that it precludes a 'double-dip'. The economy has created a total of 573,000 jobs during this year. But that is just a fraction of the jobs needed to make up for the jobs lost, and the recovery is stunted and sub-par. The underlying reason is the failure of those in power to focus on economic growth, and hostility to those who make our economy work. Instead we have gotten the 'empty calories' of stimulus and Government jobs, while private business have been given more and more burdens.