US economy: Jobs, jobs, jobs

It's something of a religion.

Each month, the first Friday of the month, legions of economists, Wall Street analysts and traders, financial journalists and various normal people gather around their computers and wait for the news: the latest U.S. unemployment report.

That ritual took place again today, and the news is pretty good.

The U.S. added 192,000 jobs last month, the fastest pick-up in almost a year. The unemployment rate, meanwhile, fell slightly to 8.9 percent. That's the first time in more than two years that it's been below 9 percent.

Stocks on Wall Street, though, were sharply lower today as traders focused instead on another sharp jump in oil prices — the latest threat to the global economic recovery.

Despite that, many economists are putting a hopeful face on the latest jobs numbers, which were largely in-line with expecations:

“Economic recoveries can be like a snowball rolling down a hill, in that it takes time to get some momentum,” John Ryding, chief economist at RDQ Economics told the New York Times. “People hesitate until they feel that the recovery’s durable enough, and then they have a tendency to jump in. Maybe we’re finally getting to that jumping-in moment.”

That's, of course, because consumer confidence is tied to whether or not you've got a job (or think that you'll keep your current one). And confidence leads to spending, which leads to economic growth.

Amen.