Some here, some there: according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' latest report, non-farm payrolls grew by only three-quarters of surveyed predictions. But in spite of the strongest yearly productivity increases in fifty years the number of jobs rose; and the national unemployment rate, expected to remain steady at 5.4%, fell two-tenths of a percentage point.
SORRY, DEMOCRATS, NO HOOVER II: Thanks to Fox News' Carl Cameron, we can savor a little trivia: with the number of non-farm payroll jobs added in January and any upward revisions of past months, President Bush has presided over a net gain in jobs over four years.