Herbert Hoover II

The spinmeisters will be out in force today. Only 32,000 jobs created in July - 100,000 less than needed just to keep up with birth/death rates and people entering the workforce for the first time.

It's pretty much a lock - George W. Bush will be the first president to preside over a net job loss in the U.S. since Herbert Hoover.

U.S. Employment Growth Surprisingly Weak in July

U.S. employers added a paltry 32,000 workers to payrolls last month, the government said on Friday in a report far weaker than expected that will come as unwelcome news for President George W. Bush ahead of the presidential election.

The Labor Department also cut its tally of job growth for May and June by a combined 61,000.

The unemployment rate, however, fell to 5.5 percent from 5.6 percent in June as a separate government survey of households showed robust employment growth. The department cautioned that the household survey was a less reliable barometer of month-to-month changes in employment than its larger survey of businesses.

Wall Street economists polled last week had looked for a payroll gain of 228,000, although a weak employment reading from a service sector survey on Wednesday had some bracing for a weaker number. Still, the lackluster July figure was certain to surprise.

Miserable. Failure.