Deceptive job growth

Not much to cheer about in the May job report, unless you’re a fan of the Census Bureau. The government says 431,000 jobs were added last month, the best surge since March 2000, and unemployment fell to 9.7 percent. But virtually all of the job creation came from the hiring of more than 400,000 temporary workers to help with the census. Those jobs will disappear later this year after the counting is done. Private-sector growth was far below the 218,000 jobs added in April, and experts said the lower unemployment rate was less about an expanding labor force than about people giving up looking for work. Not great news for President Obama, who nonetheless said the job picture is brightening but warned “there will be ups and downs.”