Nonfarm Payrolls Better Than Expected? Um, No

August nonfarm payrolls came in at minus 216,000, compared to expectations of a loss of around 233,000. Everybody can celebrate now that job losses are moderating and losses were "better than expected," except for that minor pesky detail of both June and July being revised lower by a combined 50,000. Does anyone else notice that payrolls come in better than expected and then often mysteriously get revised lower the next month? I'm not into government conspiracies but this has been bugging me recently. Oh, and the part about the unemployment rate hitting 9.7%? That's not so good either. How about the economy losing 7.4 million jobs since December 2007? Sort of bleak, wouldn't you say? But no worries, all the economists say that the recession is over. So the nearly 10% of our population that is actively looking for work but is having no luck, can always bring up that point at dinner parties to make themselves look better, right before stuffing an extra couple of canapes into their bags while nobody is looking.