A number of readers have written to ask why I am going on about unemployment at a time when rates are at historically low levels. Well, the simple answer to that is they are not (as Wall Street understood). Add in the number of “discouraged” workers and the real rate is around seven percent, not terrible, but nothing to write home about either. It’s far too soon to talk, however, as some, particularly on the left, are doing, about a jobless recovery. Typically growth in labor market participation (the real number to watch) is a lagging indicator of recovery, and I’d expect this to pick up in time. That said, employment growth so far has not been what might have been expected. This is not, therefore, the time to be talking, as Bush is talking, about increasing the number of workers admitted each year.