Obama’s recovery still not recovering – unemployment remains at 8.2%

***UPDATE: NOT GOOD NEWS FOR ECONOMY***

Instead of asking if the mandate penalty is a tax or not, the media should start asking whether we are in a recovery or not. Because with these dismal numbers, its pretty clear we aren’t:

MARKTET WATCH – The U.S. created just 80,000 jobs in June as hiring slowed dramatically in the second quarter, confirming that the economy has hit another rough patch.

The unemployment rate was unchanged at 8.2%, the Labor Department said Friday.

The disappointing employment report adds to fresh worries about the U.S. economy at a time when growth is slowing around the world and Washington is gridlocked about how to address the malaise. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch were expecting a net increase of 100,000 jobs in June. …

The poor employment report is also a blow to President Barack Obama as he tries to fend off Republican candidate Mitt Romney and win reelection in November. Romney, a former businessman, has blamed the high unemployment rate on White House policies and made the economy the centerpiece of his campaign against the president.

Hiring tailed off sharply in the second quarter, with job growth averaging 75,000 a month, compared to a 226,000 average in the first quarter.

Job growth in May was revised up to 77,000 from an original estimate of 69,000, but April’s figure was revised down to 68,000 from 77,000.

“All the strength we saw in the first quarter has tailed off. Now we are heading into the second half of the year on softer footing,” said Jennifer Lee, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets. “Employment growth is slowing, and companies are not hiring as fast as they were.”

The lower pace of job creation over the past three months falls well short of what’s required to reduce the unemployment rate to precession levels. The economy would have to add 250,000-plus jobs each month for several years to trim unemployment to around 6%.

The current pace of hiring isn’t even enough to absorb the natural increase in the labor force, which grows by more than 100,000 workers each month.

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UPDATE: Below is CNBC’s flash report on unemployment this morning with John Harwood noting that this is not good news for the economy:


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