CHART OF THE DAY: Why GDP Is Surging, But You Still Don't Have A Job Joe Weisenthal | Feb. 1, 2010, 10:00 AM
Why is the GDP surging but jobs aren't coming back?
Maybe because the GDP isn't really surging.
Today's chart, which comes from Goldman's Jan Hatzius shows Real Final Demand -- so-called real GDP -- which basically represents GDP excluding inventory restocking. As you can see by the dark line, the recovery is flat, and doesn't live up to past recoveries at all.
In the one measure that really counts, demand, there is no v-shaped recovery. And that's why there are no jobs.