According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the nation’s jobless rate jumped to 9.7 percent — a 26-year high. And although experts scoured the data for positive signs, all Standard & Poor’s economists could muster was that reports were “close to expectations.”

In this graph, we see the actual jobless rate plotted alongside the predictions made earlier this year by the Obama administration. It shows unemployment with — and without — the gargantuan $787 billion economic stimulus that was notoriously hurried through Congress shortly after Pres. Obama took office.

Note: This chart comes courtesy of InnocentBystanders.net.

In anticipation of today’s disappointing jobs report, Vice President Joe Biden yesterday tried to paint a rosier picture when he boasted of federal projects, namely 192 airport projects intended to benefit from a share of the stimulus. Unfortunately, federal investigators recently launched an investigation into some of those projects, specifically $1.1 billion of federal grants that were mishandled by the FAA and the Obama administration.

With all this bad news, can there possibly be a silver lining? Well, with increasing voter discontent sweeping across America these days, positive change in the 2010 Congressional elections is just around the corner.

Links

• August Unemployment Data
• Business Week: Jobless Rate Jumps to 9.7% in August
• AP: Biden overlooked stimulus problems