The U.S. economy added just 162,000 jobs in July, missing expectations for 185,000 new jobs. To make things worse, the June jobs number was revised down to +188,000 from last month's estimate of +195,000 jobs.

And as the labor force participation rate fell, the unemployment rate ticked down to 7.4%.

All of this reminds us that despite the upticks in jobs, the overall jobs market remains anemic four years into the economic recovery.

Calculated Risk runs a chart every month that puts the current jobs recovery into perspective.

"This shows the depth of the recent employment recession — worse than any other post-war recession — and the relatively slow recovery due to the lingering effects of the housing bust and financial crisis," writes Bill McBride of Calculated Risk.