HAD ENOUGH? (via Pepys):

More Than Half Full (Lawrence Kudlow, 6/03/06, Real Clear Politics)

Year to date, the entrepreneurial household sector has produced 1.2 million new jobs (326,000 of which are self-employed), compared to only 730,000 from the corporate establishment payroll survey. Historically, when a big spread opens up between these two series, it is the payroll survey that gets revised upward, or that catches up in future months. This was particularly the case in 2003 and 2004, when the Democrats who proclaimed a "jobless recovery" had to eat crow.

Studies done by the Labor Department acknowledge the importance of the household data, from which the unemployment rate is derived. And economists at the Bureau of Labor Statistics have offered a "split the difference" rule of thumb to reconcile the two surveys. Using this approach, you get 964,000 new jobs year-to-date, or 193,000 per month. Pretty darn impressive.

The economy is so strong that more and more people are still entering the labor force in search of new work. The civilian labor force has expanded by 838,000 this year. Meanwhile, the number of people who are not in the labor force but want to work is up 400,000. Discouraged workers are down 128,000.

Right now, total employment in the U.S. stands at a record high of 144 million. This is a big number, just as 4.6 percent unemployment is a low number. In fact, the number of unemployed has dropped by 2.2 million since the mid-2003 peak, and by 400,000 this year alone.

This is all part of a job-full recovery.