October jobs numbers point to a flattening V-shaped recovery

While the recovery is the fastest ever, the V shape is flattening. A continuation of growth-oriented policies, and perhaps more stimulus, will speed things up.

According to the US Labor Department, the economy added another 638,000 jobs in October. While this number is less than prior months, it does show that the V-shaped recovery that started in May is continuing. The V-shape has however somewhat flattened in September and October.

The October report did have some additional encouraging information. The private sector added 908,000 jobs, meaning the private sector is continuing to grow strongly. The government sector lost 268,000 mostly from temporary census workers.

More encouraging is the labor force participation rate grew by .3%. meaning nearly half of a million discouraged workers re-entered the job market.

In total, 12 million of the 22 million workers who lost their jobs during the short-lived recession have been re-hired. That means over half of the jobs lost during the recession have been recovered in the last six months. This is an unprecedently recovery.

Depending on economic policy next year, we could see a complete recovery of all lost jobs before the end of the year. That will mean it took just over a year and a half for the…