There is something to like and a whole lot not to like with the job figures and unemployment rate released today.

What  is good is that 115,000 jobs were created in April. What is not so good  is that 15,000 jobs were cut by local and state governments.

What  is good is that the unemployment rate dropped from 8.2% to 8.1%. What  is not so good is that around 350,000 people just quit looking for work.

April's  disappointing jobs numbers follow a winter boom, when nearly 250,000  jobs per month were added between December and February. That grace  period ended in March, when only 154,000 jobs were added, and many  economists attribute the mini-boom to the unseasonably warm winter  weather.

On Fox News Friday morning, Mitt Romney called the  report "terrible" and "disappointing." Obama has emphasized that  economic indicators are improving, albeit slowly, while Romney blames  the unemployment crisis on Obama's policies. The Federal Reserve has  predicted the unemployment rate will be between 7.8 and 8 percent by  Election Day.

Earlier this week the Labor Department reported  that jobless claims fell 27,000 to 365,000. That was the steepest weekly  drop in a year.

About 12.5 million Americans were unemployed in  April, including 5.1 million who have been looking for work for more  than 27 weeks. But many more millions of Americans have given up looking  for work altogether. The labor force participation rate is at the  lowest point since 1981.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/120k-jobs-added-april-unemployment-rate-8-1-123323218.html

From the Cornfield, not all that glisten is not gold.

So it would seem to be true of the sluggish US economy as we move closer to the summer months.