Unemployment

Some good news on the unemployment front as the new numbers for January show a decline to 9.7%. Now we get to wait and hear the Republicans explain how this is a failure of the Obama administration.

More bad economic news for the real people of America – the workers:

The unemployment rate in the U.S. soared to a 26-year high of 10.2 percent in October and employers cut more jobs than forecast, underscoring why Federal Reserve policy makers say interest rates will remain low until the labor market recovers.

Payrolls fell by 190,000 workers last month, compared with a 175,000 drop anticipated by the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News, figures from the Labor Department showed today in Washington. The jobless rate gained from 9.8 percent in September and exceeded 10 percent for the first time since 1983.

Just because Wall Street is making money again doesn’t mean that Main Street is. It’s time for the White House to focus on regular America instead of the elites. If these numbers don’t turn around soon then Democrats can kiss it good bye next year.

Slate has a very cool interactive map showing where the job losses are occurring. I wonder if the Republicans still think the entire economic crisis is overblown?

(h/t Sullivan)