Finally, a truly recessionary reading on the employment front

Even the 159,000 net loss of jobs in September was not the magnitude of loss that would indicate that a full-bore, true recession (as opposed to a minor dip) was upon us, but the October report really changed things. The monthly Employment Situation report for October showed a net decline of 240,000 jobs, finally a number above 200,000. Even more impressive was that the September number was revised to a decline of 284,000, which is also finally substantial enough to confirm that a true recession is underway. Combined, we had a two-month net decline of 524,000, which is clearly a recessionary-level decline. Further, we finally cracked the one million threshold for total net job loss, with a total net decline of 1.2 million jobs since the December peak.

In short, the recession had been quite shallow, but in September the economy finally fell off a cliff.

As bad as all of this news is, it at least gives clarity to the situation and makes it much easier for Congress to make the case for a dramatic level of fiscal stimulus ASAP.

-- Jack Krupansky