Economic comeback begins with jobs

The national unemployment rate remained at 9.7 percent in February. When all was said and done, the economy lost a net 36,000 jobs.

That's not so bad, seemed to be the consensus among economists and government officials. As President Barack Obama remarked, the latest jobs report "is actually better than expected."

Many analysts thought the heavy snows of February would take a greater toll on the job market than has happened. Some are even predicting the economy will add jobs in March, albeit slowly.

We seem to look everywhere for the silver lining, even amid the deep snows of the mid-Atlantic states. But several economists do not see the jobless rate dropping to more normal levels — between 5.5 and 6 percent — until the middle of the decade — a long time to wait for better days.