Dismal April Jobs Report

  The latest  jobs report indicates only 115 thousand jobs were created last month, well below what experts had predicted, as the labor force shrunk by a record 342 thousand people, according to Investor's Business Daily. The unemployment rate dropped from 8.2 to 8.1 percent but only because so many people gave up looking for work and those people are not counted in the unemployment report. When you add in those who have given up looking and those who are underemployed, the figure stands at 14.5 percent. According to stats released by the government Friday, compared with June 2009, the labor force has shrunk 365 thousand , a trend which has never occurred in any  recovery since World War II. The labor participation rate stands at 63.6 percent , the lowest since 1981.