Once upon a time there was a farmer named Sam, growing impatient with the current drought. He thought that he had prepared for hard times; he had deepened their well to hold over 10,000,000 gallons of water. That was enough to water their fields and keep their household running. He was SURE it was deep enough to sustain his family for any crisis. 

No one had ever seen blight like the one of ’20 – but it drained his well. Rain did not come for a year. Then in March, some declared the emergency over because some rain fell, and 961,000 gallons filtered into his well … but it wasn’t even one-tenth full. He needed to start using that water immediately for household use, and he doubted if it was enough to water just ONE of his fields.

961,000 jobs created in March sounds great, but when trying to make up for approximately 10,000,000 jobs lost from Feb 2020 to Feb 2021, these jobs are just a drop in the bucket. Let’s be careful about headlines that talk about growth percentages, realizing this isn’t growth from the top of the flat, smooth, fertile field—they are measuring from the bottom of the dry well.

Old Uncle Sam will go out to his fields again today, eyes raised upwards, hoping for signs of more rain to replenish his fields, and his well.