[Lael]

All those new jobs are being created in the restaurant industry

Actually, according to Morgan Stanley's Stephen Roach in a commentary today, only the Temps, educational, health, and Government employment has expanded...those areas protected...er, poor choice of words,..."not exposed" to "offshoring competition".

If NBER is right, this is tne Second Anniversary of the "Recovery", and Roach calculates that the real job shortfall is about 7.4 MILLION!

He blames this on three new factors...Outsourcing Goods to China, "IT enabled" White Collar activities to India; the Internet in its modern form since 1995 to make seemless 'Supply Chain Management' across the world, and lastly the absence of "pricing power", which though he did not blame on the Internet, others like Bob Brinker of Money Talk have.

[snopercod]

"Industry analysts say restaurant sales will hit a record $426 billion this year and is responsible for 18 percent of the 300,000 jobs created nationwide since late summer." [link]