The Tribune and AP’s Jeannine Aversa continued the election year shriek that we are in a recession, with the proclamation:

“Huge Job Losses Set Off Recession Alarms”

Then telling us

“the economy now has lost 232,000 jobs in the first three months of this year.”

yet, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has it that 574,000 and 1.1 million more Americans had jobs in March than in February and January, respectively.

So which is it? Did the economy gain jobs (as the BLS states) or lose jobs as the Tribune states?

Well, since the Trib story is based on BLS statistics, I would tend to believe the BLS, and note that job numbers are seasonally adjusted, so the additional “unemployed” are actually resulting from slower growth, rather than a reduction of workforce.

Contrary to the Tribune story, “Pink Slips” were not issued to 80,000 more workers, nor are job losses “nearing the staggering level of a quarter-million this year in just three months”.

The Trib tells us, “It’s no longer a question of recession or not. Now it’s how deep and how long” which defies the calendar, as the second quarter ends on June 30.

It is possible we might have a recession. However, the numbers do not coincide with the conclusions of the story.

Hat Tip: WSJ and Newsbusters