So, here is the upside to stubbornly high unemployment and slow job growth.

US labor productivity surged to 2.4 percent in 2009 and 2.8 percent in 2010, according to The Conference Board. This compares with just 0.8 percent in 2008.

Can the economy continue to grow without a meaningful improvement in the job market? The stock market seems to think so.

This morning we got bad news on the jobs front from a number of sources.

In case we-and more importantly, the Obama Administration-needed another reminder, a number of developments on Tuesday underscore why jobs is the number one problem facing most people in this country.

Not financial reform, not the oil spill (although this is a huge disaster that must be contained), not Afghanistan (another huge disaster that must be addressed).

Let's face it. Americans are consumers, not savers.

It only took the worst economic crisis since the depression to convince many profligate spenders to cut back and only use the money they have. As a result, Americans began to save like the Japanese.

The workplace is a pretty darn unpleasant place to be these days. In case you hadn't noticed.

That, at least, is the conclusion reached by two recent studies.