Despite the fact that jobs were added at their fastest pace in a decade, stocks were driven lower this morning and optimism of a firm and continued recovery faded due to the fact that the number of new jobs in May were overwhelmingly exaggerated by the hiring of temporary census workers.

Payrolls increased by 431,000 in May, yet according to the U.S. Labor Department, private-sector payrolls increased by only 41,000 (290,000 jobs were added in April). The unemployment rate did drop from 9.9% in April to 9.7% in May, a result of fewer job seekers in the market, according to Economy.com.

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The economy added 290,000 jobs in April, marking the fourth-straight monthly increase in employment. While the job market has experienced nearly 8.5 million layoffs in the last two years, according to the Wall Street Journal, this month’s jobs report points to several signs of a firming market — including the fact that the unemployment rate increased from 9.7% to 9.9%.

How is that possible? “Based on how the two figures are calculated, the increase in the unemployment rate means that more people expressed an interest in finding work,” said HSH VP Keith Gumbinger.

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Nonfarm payrolls added 162,000 jobs in March, the largest “seasonally-adjusted” monthly increase in about three years. While the unemployment rate held steady at 9.7%, both the January and February numbers were revised upward.

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Another month with consistent unemployment numbers isn’t all that encouraging for a country that is struggling to find its grip on economic recovery. However, some analysts are hopeful since many predicted February’s decline of 36,000 jobs to be worse.

The “good” news is that the unemployment rate held steady — remaining at 9.7% — but last month marked the 25th time payrolls have dropped in 26 months, according to MarketWatch.com.

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The numbers look bad once again. We’ll start with the bad news, then work our way to the not-so-bad news.

Since the recession began in December of 2007, the U.S. has lost 8.4 million jobs. “In terms of job losses, this has been the worst recession since the end of the World War II more than 60 years ago,” writes Rex Nutting of MarketWatch.com. Nonfarm payrolls dropped 20,000 in January, a sizeable pool of jobs, but far less than the 150,000 (revised upward) lost in December. Moving onto the better news, the unemployment rate dipped to 9.7% from 10% last month. If the unemployment rate can continue to trend downward, it will be especially encouraging since some analysts expected the rate to remain at or above 10% for the entire year.

Trend Spotting

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It’s easy to look at December’s jobless numbers and get down about the fact that 85,000 jobs were lost following November’s positive revision which found that 4,000 jobs were created, rather than the loss of the 11,000 as initially reported. It’s important that we remember to focus on the overall trend.

When you review the payroll changes over the last year, the number of jobs lost has continually improved: 584,000 jobs were lost in November of 2008, 463,000 in June of 2009, and “only” 85,000 last month.

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Initial jobless claims dropped by 13,000 to 432,000 for the week ending August 16, down from 445,000 (revised) from the week ending August 9. Despite two steady weeks of drop offs, the four-week moving average of jobless claims has reached its highest level in nearly seven years. According to Bloomberg.com, initial claims have averaged 445,750 since the end of July, the highest level since December 2001. So far this year, weekly unemployment claims have averaged 53,000 more than they did last year.

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New claims filed for unemployment benefits reached 450,000 last week, down 10,000 from the week prior. Despite the improvement, these numbers remain at recessionary levels.

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