Smells like recovery spirit! It’d be funny if it weren’t so sad and pathetic. Remember how the $787 billion “stimulus” package was supposed to keep unemployment below 8%? Economists expect the rate to hit 10.1% when the numbers are released on Friday.

WASHINGTON (AP) – Unemployment rose in most cities and counties in December, signaling that companies remain reluctant to hire even as the economy recovers.

The Dow Jones may be doing better, but unemployment is on the rise and existing home sales are down. Oh, and the overwhelming majority of GDP growth in Q4 came from a slowdown in inventory liquidation rather than increase in demand, leaving even liberal economist Paul Krugman to shrug at the news. But yeah, economic recovery.

The unemployment rate rose in 306 of 372 metro areas, the Labor Department said Tuesday. The rate fell in 41 and was unchanged in 25. That’s worse than November, when the rate fell in 170 areas, rose in only 154 and was unchanged in 48.

Unemployment in metro areas falling faster than before? Smells like recovery spirit!

For example, Ocean City, N.J., which bills itself as “America’s Greatest Family Resort,” saw its unemployment rate jump to 16.4 percent in December from 14.8 percent the previous month.

That’s double the 8 percent it reported in July, even though the nation’s economy was in worse shape then.

138 metro areas saw unemployment rates of 10% or higher — two percent higher than Obama promised unemployment would reach nationally under his recovery plan.

Even the good news comes with major caveats:

The Detroit area saw unemployment fall to 15.7 percent from 16.4 percent, while the Warren area reported a drop to 14.3 percent from 14.8 percent. While still high, the rates are down about 2 percentage points from last fall.

Steve Cochrane, a regional economist at Moody’s Economy.com, said it isn’t clear if the gains are sustainable once the auto companies have rebuilt their inventories.

“There are no guarantees the unemployment rates won’t go up again,” he said.

Auto companies brought in additional workers to help replenish inventories diminished under the “Cash for Clunkers” program, but what happens now that the program is over and inventories are at acceptable levels again? Probably higher unemployment in Detroit.

The nation’s highest metro unemployment rate? El Centro, California. A whopping 27.7% of the city’s workforce can’t find a job, with an even larger percentage underemployed. Wow.

Via Hot Air.