It is certainly a sign of the times when reports that the economy lost 36,000 jobs is considered a boon in economic news. While today’s unemployment numbers, released by the Labor Department, are being hyped as evidence that the economy is gaining traction, economists still advise that we have a long way to go. Following years of drastic cuts in employment, companies appear to be finally at the point where they need to hire on new workers. Over the last year or so, companies have been shedding workers and demanding more out of their current employees; in 2009, productivity rose over sox percent across the board in the US.

Analysts had been quite pessimistic prior to the release of the jobs numbers, as heavy snowfall on the East Coast impeded construction and retarded job growth. The fact that the unemployment rate held steady at 9.7 percent may be a harbinger that we are on the verge of job creation. As we have mentioned before, the hiring of temps is often an early indicator of economic growth, and 48,000 new temporary employees were hired last month. Not only were February’s numbers encouraging, but the estimates from December and January were also revised to show that 35,000 less jobs were lost than originally predicted.

In calculating the unemployment rate, the Labor Department takes the number of unemployed workers and expresses this as a percentage of the total work force. In order to be considered in the work force, you have to be actively seeking employment, which many people have stopped doing since the recession hit.

There are always two sides to every story, and the jobs report wasn’t all roses. Despite this relatively good news, it is unlikely that there will be steady job growth throughout the year, and many economists predict that unemployment may hit double-digits once again.

Of course, the various media sources have taken the opportunity to put their ideological spin on the numbers. MSNBC predictably touted the unemployment numbers, pointing out that they beat analyst expectations. While the leading story for Fox News, on the other hand, was that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was “catching heat” for saying that the jobs numbers were “good news.” Investors on Wall Street sided with the optimists, sending the Dow up over 100 points, although they were quick to asset that the risk of a double-dip recession was still a possibility.

In one of the only pieces of legislation to gain bipartisan support in the last year—if you can call five Republican votes bipartisan—the Senate passed their version of a jobs bill last week, which is just the latest in a litany of government stimulus efforts. There is high skepticism that this watered-down version will actually do anything to create jobs. While the money that has been pumped into the economy has certainly helped up to this point, no one believes that this is actually a long-term fix.

“The government is going to be hiring workers and going to make (the jobs data) look good in March, April and May, and the government will claim credit for that,” said David Malpass, president of Encima Global. “But I don’t think the actual programs that they’re putting in place are helping at all.”

I know that today’s unemployment numbers certainly don’t mean that we are out of the woods by any means, but I think that they provide some evidence that the economy can recover without more government aid. While infrastructure planning is essential for prolonged economic growth, the tax breaks that the newest bill offers to businesses won’t create jobs, in my opinion. If a company needs a new worker, then they will hire one; a tax break is not enough of an incentive to hire a worker where one wasn’t needed in the first place. Part of the problem is that people want a quick fix to the economy, and that just isn’t going to happen. It is going to take years to recreate the jobs that were, lost no matter how much legislation is passed.

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