Dismal Employment Growth?

The headline news from the May 2012 Employment Situation sounds awful:

Nonfarm payroll employment changed little in May (+69,000), and the unemployment rate was essentially unchanged at 8.2 percent

But the household survey reported a much higher employment increase and these statistics:

The civilian labor force participation rate increased in May by 0.2 percentage point to 63.8 percent, offsetting a decline of the same amount in April. The employment- population ratio edged up to 58.6 percent in May.

While it is limited goods news that the employment-population ratio edged up, we have a long way to go. Alas policy makers don’t seem to have any real urgency in terms of passing the kind of fiscal stimulus we need.