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David R. Francis of the Christian Science Monitor via The Arizona Daily Sun here:

If Labor Day is the time to celebrate the American worker, someone forgot to tell the American worker.
The economy is in the throes of one of the most baffling "jobless recoveries" since the union movement created the first Labor Day more than 120 years ago in New York City.

Consider these facts: Employment growth at the moment is the lowest for any recovery since the government started keeping such statistics in 1939. The labor force shrank in July as discouraged workers stopped seeking employment. The number of people employed has fallen by more than 1 million since the "recovery" began in the fall of 2001. The upshot: Better throw a ballpark frank on the barbecue this weekend instead of a T-bone.

True, the economy is showing signs of improving. The government reported Thursday that the economy grew at a 3.1 percent annual rate in the second quarter -- better than many expected. Consumer and business spending, in particular, was robust. Many retailers are experiencing strong back-to-school sales, too, as kids buy the latest SpongeBob shirt to go along with their intent to conquer "Ulysses."

Yet the recovery is probably not vigorous enough yet to reduce unemployment much this year, or even well into 2004 from the jobless rate of 6.2 percent in July, economists figure.

So if this is a recovery, where are the jobs?