The jobs picture in the United States is almost undoubtedly getting better. The unemployment rate has been steadily dropping, and the economy has been adding a fair number of private-sector jobs every month. No one knows exactly what tomorrow's release of April's jobs data will bring, but even if it is a somewhat lackluster report as our own Bob Johnson and Vishnu Lekraj believe, the broad trend remains positive.

However, even as the picture improves, it is still pretty ugly. And I think that there might be some groups of people that could take a very long time to find jobs, creating a drag on the economy that will last for a while.