Last month's gain of 192,000 net new jobs indicated that job creation might finally be on the uptick. The unemployment rate -down to 8.9 percent - has now declined nearly a full percentage point since November 2010, the steepest drop over a three-month span since 1983. While that's good news, Elaine Chao, former Secretary of Labor, reminded participants attending the 2011 Human Capital Institute Summit, that we actually need 200,000 net new jobs per month just to keep up with our growing population. (That's not so bad compared to China, where they need 25 million net new jobs per year just to keep up with their growing population.) New jobs and a falling unemployment rate, despite what the press and political pundits might have you … [Read more...]