Monthly Jobs Numbers are Relatively Decent

176,000 jobs added to the non-farm payroll in April, which is somewhat better than natural growth in the labor force, and additionally, the adjustments to February and March added 100,000 to the NFP.

It should be noted thought, that this really is only a bit better than treading water:

The American economy continues to add jobs in proportion to population growth. Nothing less, nothing more.

The share of American adults with jobs has barely changed since 2010, hovering between 58.2 percent and 58.7 percent. This employment-to-population ratio stood at 58.6 percent in April. That is about four percentage points lower than the employment rate before the recession, a difference of roughly 10 million jobs. In other words, the United States economy is not getting any closer to recreating the jobs lost during the recession.

And here is the scary quote:

Furthermore, the projections were wrong. Participation has actually risen among people older than 55. The decline is entirely driven by younger dropouts.

So, better, but our economy still sucks wet farts from dead pigeons.