The country added only 92,000 jobs last month, according to the Labor Department report out this morning. It was the slowest growth since February and the second-worst month since late 2004. Unemployment went from 4.5 percent to 4.6 percent. The upshot: slower growth ahead.

The housing slump seems to be having an effect on the economy, even though it's not showing up much in the figures. According to the Labor Department, the country had only 23,000 fewer construction jobs in July than it did in the same period of 2006. In the big picture this isn't much. Some people believe that many of construction jobs were held by illegals, so they didn't show up on the books when construction employment was increasing and they're not showing up now that it's falling.
Here's a Bloomberg story.