That's those household numbers again. With their usual perversion when compared to payroll numbers, they actually got lower last month. I have no idea why. I remember months when the payroll numbers stank but the household numbers skyrocketed.

If you look at the household numbers, the employment situation looks a bit different through the past few years.

The household employment level peaked out at 137.8 million in January of 2001. It then dropped to 135.7 million in January of 2002. A drop of 2.1 million jobs. From that point, it climbed back steadily, beating the 137.8 million level back in October of 2003, and then climbing from there to an all-time historical high of 138.6 million in January of 2004. It has since dropped slightly to 138.3 million.

In other words, there are at the present time over half a million more people working than there were at the highest household employment level of the entire Clinton administration (Jan. 2001). If it wasn't for the fact that the workforce increased by almost three million during that same time, we'd be looking pretty good.