Unemployment numbers keep getting better in most markets

[Jon Klaus]

BLS list of metro areas

The recovery hasn't been spectacular, but it keeps chugging forward.

[Karen Margrave]

The truth is, those numbers don't take into account the hundreds of thousands of people that have dropped out of the labor force and given up hope. They were saying that the "true" unemployment rate is 11%. It would be interesting to go back to 2007 and look at the numbers, along with the average hourly wage for each age at that time. 

Too many of the jobs are low paying jobs, and that's one of the things they say about the trend of business moving to Texas. Though a lot of jobs are being created, what are the actual wages? On the other end of the spectrum, we have areas where there is strong union participation, and wages are unsustainable, and totally ridiculous, causing our manufacturing sector to flee to China. Then we have California and our trend of being "the most stringent" on environmental laws etc. which translates into too expensive to do business in! We need BALANCE. 

@Jon Klaus