Together with last month's employment numbers, the data show that the overall labor market is belatedly showing some signs of life — although the overall post-recession employment situation continues to significantly lag behind past economic recoveries. For the first time since WWII, the economy has not returned to pre-recession employment levels at this point in the recovery.

In addition, the labor market has weakened for some segments of the population. Teenage unemployment (16- to 19-year-olds) has increased over the past few months and is currently at 16.9 percent. Some are predicting a dismal employment situation for teens this summer.

Finally, the employment number was still below the Bush Administration's projection for the number of jobs that would be created due to tax law changes. Over the past 10 months, the total number of jobs is about 2 million below the administration's prediction, which was made just last summer. (See JobWatch.org for more details.)