NOT SO FAST, GUYS –  A new jobs report is out.  Looks pretty good...until you work the details.  From The New York Times, which treats any good economic news as if it were victory in World War II.

In a sign the economic momentum evident late last year has carried into 2015, the Labor Department said Friday that American employers added 257,000 jobs in January, as wage growth rebounded and more people joined the work force.

The Labor Department said on Friday that the unemployment rate ticked up to 5.7 percent, from 5.6 percent. But that was mostly because the portion of Americans in the work force rose slightly last month, a positive sign.

Over the course of 2014, the economy added about 250,000 jobs a month on average. But employers grew bolder in the final quarter of the year, creating an average of more than 290,000 jobs a month in October, November and December. Hiring in sectors like leisure and hospitality, retail, and professional and business services was especially robust.

In addition, the Labor Department on Friday revised the December gain to 329,000 jobs, from its initial estimate of 252,000.

And now for the other side:

Since the beginning of this year, some other economic indicators have been lackluster, including data last week that showed economic output grew at a slower-than-expected 2.6 percent rate in the fourth quarter of 2014.

On Thursday, new data revealed a big jump in the country’s trade deficit in December, as imports surged and exports fell. With the dollar's gaining strength and the euro and other currencies’ weakening, the trade balance may continue to weigh on the economy in 2015.

And there is this gem from Gallup, bringing us down to Earth.  From Gateway Pundit: 

Gallup CEO and Chairman Jim Clifton doubled-down on his comments earlier in the week on the misleading Obama unemployment rate.

Obama says the unemployment rate is 5.6% which is very misleading.

Clifton went on America’s Newsroom today to explain the misleading government numbers.

"The number of full-time jobs, and that’s what everybody wants, as a percent of the total population, is the lowest it’s ever been… The other thing that is very misleading about that number is the more people that drop out, the better the number gets. In the recession we lost 13 million jobs. Only 3 million have come back. You don’t see that in that number."

COMMENT:  If the economy were truly coming back, Americans would feel it.  They don't.  The employment picture is actually pretty bad, especially when you look at the quality of jobs and whether they're full- or part-time. 

But you may be sure the Obama media will tell us that the good times are rolling.  I guess they are, at Georgetown parties.

February 6, 2015