The official unemployment rate has become a joke, what with massive numbers of people dropping out of the workforce and therefore becoming invisible. The latest report of a decline in unemployment in the face of a pathetic 74,000 new jobs indicates the uselessness of the figure.

Fortunately, the editors of Investor's Business Daily have come up with their own indices, and they are well worth a look. For example:

6.3 million: Net new jobs created since Obama's recovery started in June 2009
13.8 million: New jobs that would have been created had Obama's kept pace with the average of the previous 10 recoveries.

3.6%: Growth in private jobs since Obama took office.
43%: Growth in the number of temp jobs. (snip)

58.6%: Current employment-to-population ratio.
61%: Ratio when Obama took office.
62%: Average employment-to-population ratio in the 30 years before Obama took office.

$1,006: Drop in median household income during the 2007-09 recession.
$2,535: Drop in median income after the recession ended in June 2009, according to Sentier Research.

Hat tip: Andrew Malcolm