National Unemployment Rate At 9% More Than 2 Years After Obama Promised It Would Never Go Above 8%; Labor Participation Rate Still At All-Time Low

The unemployment rate is back over 9%. Again. Almost 2 1/2 years after Obama promised us all it wouldn't get above 8% if we spent over $1.2 trillion (including interest since we're bankrupt) to give him a slush fund to reward his cronies. The result was utterly predictable: more debt and a higher unemployment rate. From The Detroit Free Press, which put the best spin it could on the bad news by focusing on something else: U.S. economy adds 244,000 jobs. The unemployment rate increase wasn't mentioned in the headline, natch.

The U.S. economy added 244,000 seasonally-adjusted jobs last month, including 29,000 manufacturing positions, the Labor Department said Friday.

...But while overall U.S. job growth continued, the unemployment rate also rose in April -- returning to 9%, up from 8.8% in March.

The best defense the AP could muster was to point out it was still lower than last year:

Year-over-year, April's 9% national unemployment rate was less than April 2010, when it was 9.8%, and roughly equal to April 2009, when it was 8.9%.

Just for reference, Bush's last April in 2008 had an unemployment rate was 4.9%. The Obama regime hailed the rising unemployment rate as good news:

White House press secretary Jay Carney, speaking aboard Air Force One en route to Indianapolis on Friday morning, said the April job numbers were "obviously good news."

The freep also published this graphic for what's been going on the past 13 months:

Why just the past 13 months? Why not go all the way back to when the stimulus bill was signed into law as an elixir for the economy? Because going back that far would paint the correct picture of how bad Obama has been. The real unemployment rate by the way is 16%, not 9%. The way the government calculates the unemployment rate makes Enron look honest by comparison. Obama promised that 3.5 million NEW private-sector jobs would be created by the $1.2 trillion stimulus bill ($800 billion + interest over 10 years since the US is bankrupt) by 2010. Instead, more than 3 million jobs have been lost. Here is what has been happening with Biden's 3-letter word since Obama took over:

January US jobs lost: 598,000 jobs
February US jobs lost: 706,000 jobs
March US jobs lost: 742,000 jobs
April US jobs lost: 545,000 jobs
May US jobs lost: 345,000 jobs
June US jobs lost: 467,000 jobs
July US jobs lost: 247,000 jobs
August US jobs lost: 216,000 jobs
September US jobs lost: 263,000 jobs
October US jobs lost: 190,000 jobs
November US jobs lost: 11,000 jobs
December US jobs lost: 85,000 jobs
January US jobs lost: 20,000
February US jobs lost: 30,000
March US jobs lost: -162,000
April US jobs lost: -290,000
May US jobs lost: -431,000
June US jobs lost: 125,000
July US jobs lost: 131,000
August US jobs lost: 54,000
September US jobs lost: 95,000
October US jobs lost: -151,000
November US jobs lost: -39,000
December US jobs lost: -103,000
January US jobs lost: -36,000
February US jobs lost: -196,000
March US jobs lost: -216,000
April US jobs lost: -244,000

Total US jobs lost under Obama: 3,002,000 jobs

3 million fewer jobs to lose, and that's neglecting the corrections that were made to the jobs numbers from 2009 that showed even bigger losses. Recall that the stimulus package was supposed to stop the unemployment rate at 8%! A crisis could become a calamity? Remember that? Obama promised the unemployment rate would not exceed 8% if Congress gave him a $1.2 trillion (including interest) slush fund in the form of the stimulus boondoggle:

Plus, this bonus to foreshadow where the unemployment rate is going: Jobless claims jump points to slowing recovery. Not only rising, but at its highest point in almost a year.

The number of Americans filing for jobless aid rose to an eight-month high last week and productivity growth slowed in the first quarter, clouding the outlook for an economy that is struggling to gain speed.

While the surprise jump in initial claims for unemployment benefits was blamed on factors ranging from spring break layoffs to the introduction of an emergency benefits program, economists said it corroborated reports this week indicating a loss of momentum in job creation.

New claims for state jobless benefits rose 43,000 to 474,000, the highest since mid-August, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Economists had expected claims to fall.

Did I mention by the way that unemployment rates are 20% higher in Democrat strongholds? I'm sure liberal policies have nothing to do with it, right? And as I have pointed out many times, at least 100,000 new monthly jobs are needed just to keep even with population growth. So since Obama took office, we would have needed 2,800,000 jobs just to keep an even keel. In actually, the Obama job deficit number is almost 6 MILLION! Lastly: 9% Unemployment, and We Are Supposed to Be Happy?!