More on the June unemployment figures

By Ethel C. Fenig

John Merline of Investors Business Daily looked at the June employment figures and tells you all you need to know about the truly bleak employment situation.

More workers joined the federal government's disability program in June than got new jobs, according to two new government reports, a clear indicator of how bleak the nation's jobs picture is after three full years of economic recovery.

The economy created just 80,000 jobs in June, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. But that same month, 85,000 workers left the workforce entirely to enroll in the Social Security Disability Insurance program, according to the Social Security Administration.

The disability ranks have outpaced job growth throughout President Obama's recovery. While the economy has created 2.6 million jobs since June 2009, fully 3.1 million workers signed up for disability benefits.

In other words, the number of new disability enrollees has climbed 19% faster than the number of jobs created during the sluggish recovery

Whoops! Wait there is more (unpleasant) news.

The unemployment rate has been above 8% for 41 consecutive months. In the previous 60 years, the jobless topped 8% in a total of only 39 months.

The number of people with jobs is still nearly 5 million below its pre-recession peak.

The number of long-term unemployed - those out of work 27 weeks or more - is still 5.4 million - almost 1 million higher than when the recovery began, (snip)

The median length of unemployment is 19.8 weeks. (snip) Prior to Obama, that number had had never exceeded 10.5 weeks.

The poor recovery has also driven people to sign up for food stamps in record numbers. (snip)

In addition, the soft jobs market has driven median household incomes down more after the recession ended than

After adjusting for inflation, median annual household income tumbled 5.3% from June 2009 to May 2012. In contrast, median incomes dropped 2.6% during the 18-month recession, Sentier found.