As Dana noted in this morning's daily report, the unemployment numbers released this morning were bad enough to put unemployment insurance (UI) benefits extension back in play for the domestic spending section of the FY 08-09 war supp. But the past couple of weeks have seen the release of a couple of other data points that should increase concern among lawmakers that the U.S. labor force has come into sour times.

• The number of continuing UI claims -- workers receiving UI benefits for more than one week -- has not been this high since March 2004. The number of continuing claims has been sharply increasing since Nov. 2007.

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• On Wed. (June 4), the Dept. of Labor reported that productivity in the first quarter was increasing at an annualized rate of 2.6% -- a healthy number. But that number -- the economic output per unit of labor -- is the result of employers scaling back hours, making workers worse off.

It should also be noted that May's 49,000 net job loss was buoyed by the addition of 17,000 government jobs; the private sector lost 66,000 jobs, continuing a six-month decline in private jobs. (click to enlarge)