Actually, that statement is slightly in error. The latest employment numbers do show more and more people back at work. The chart below is in Thousands, so the number of employed has risen from 139 Million to 141 Million from November of last year to November of this year.
Characteristic Not seasonally adjusted. Total 16 years and over
Part-time workers(2)
Nov. 2010 28,068_____Oct. 2011 27,530_____ Nov. 2011 27,932
Footnotes
(1) Employed full-time workers are persons who usually work 35 hours or more per week.
(2) Employed part-time workers are persons who usually work less than 35 hours per week.
To show the recent trend, I have copied down the DOL reports for the past two months.
Date __Adjusted __Unadjusted
12/24/11 381,000 490,364
12/17/11 364,000 418,466
12/10/11 366,000 433,287
12/03/11 381,000 523,642
11/26/11 402,000 370,616
11/19/11 393,000 437,049
11/12/11 388,000 360,139
11/05/11 390,000 398,753
10/29/11 397,000 366,923
These are NEW weekly claims. For the most part people who have just lost their jobs file right away, so as a barometer of present trends, the numbers for December are frightening.