Three months ago Barack Obama was firmly in the dock over news that no net jobs were created in August. Some gloomy people even saw a double-dip recession on the way. America, it turns out, was not on the verge of recession, and it still isn't. Subsequent revisions show that 104,000 jobs were in fact created in August. Later months have also been revised upwards, and in November payrolls grew by 120,000, or 0.1%. On December 2nd the government also reported that the unem- ployment rate had declined sharply to 8.6%, the lowest figure for two-and-a-half years, down from 9%.
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