Yes, Tim, it truly is about jobs. Congress can debate health care reform, bail out banks, extend unemployment benefits, work to develop a climate bill, increase the legislative budget, and do whatever else it does until the cows come home, but we need jobs—lots of good jobs—for the economy to improve.

Jobs and a healthy economy are analogous to the chicken and the egg. You can't have one without the other. And without jobs and a healthy economy, the U.S. can't afford the flood of money Congress is spending these days. The current situation is a mindboggling conundrum—a mess. I don't have the answers, but I believe employers and employees can work together to mitigate job loss—just as the companies mentioned in my colleague's blog post did. Fabricating Update readers think so too.

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It's now one in 10, probably more. Take a walk and glance around. You'll probably see someone in need of a job. Within two blocks of my house, I know four who are unemployed—and those are just the neighbors I know.

The Labor Department's release, which pegged October's unemployment rate at 10.2 percent, caught many off guard Friday. Most thought the rate would reach that point someday, but not so soon. During the past year, durable goods manufacturing unemployment more than doubled, from 5.9 percent to 12.9, the highest rate of any sector the labor department tracks.

Break it down a bit more and the picture doesn't look quite as dire. In September 2008 the fabricated metal products sector employed 1.280 million; in October 2009 it was 1.275. And get this: Employment related to motor vehicles and parts actually increased by more than 4 percent. Could the sector finally be bouncing back?

I know I'm hunting for diamonds in the rough here. Heck, I'd be pleased with cubic zirconium at this point.

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The status of Cummins perhaps best sums up the manufacturing economy at large. We may be on the rebound, but all of the unemployed aren't heading back to work tomorrow.

Last week the engine maker reported third quarter profits that exceeded expectations. Like so many, they got there by cutting jobs and inventory. According to a Bloomberg report, the company "cut about 7,500 workers, including fill-time and temporary employees, from late 2008 through June, and has since recalled about 900."

About 900? That's good … I guess.

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Yesterday evening, I sat in a Jiffy Lube waiting room while my car was undergoing an emissions test—a requirement for tag renewal. A small, very old-school, rabbit-eared TV tuned to a local news station stood in the corner. As I attempted to wile away the time reading the latest but already well-worn issue of People magazine and catch up with the David Letterman situation, a fellow waiting room occupant began to talk to me about what was happening on TV. She laughed and said, "My husband keeps telling me to stop watching the news. It's all bad."

Throughout the years, I've heard this advice from several people, most memorably, an individual who taught courses at Rock Valley College, Rockford, Ill., in the early 90s about the mind-body connection. Myrna (not her real name, but close) said we should never watch the news, or read the newspaper; it isn't healthy.

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Psssst. Hey … down here. I’m the headline about 20 column inches below the story about Balloon Boy. Keep looking down. Down. Just below that expose about Polanski. See me? Good. Don't tell anyone, but manufacturing's getting a bit better. In fact, manufacturing may be the thing that pulls us all out of the economic doldrums; at least that's how some are reacting to the Federal Reserve data released Friday.

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I love online polls, especially those that allow takers to comment. There's a certain feeling of anonymity when you are sitting all alone in front of your computer screen that tends to make many of us more open when voicing our opinions through our keyboards. (Of course that same feeling of privacy also can lead to misuse of Internet resources at work, as IT departments everywhere can attest.)

Yesterday, MSNBC.com's Newsvine featured a poll that asked, When do you plan to retire? As I write this, 50 percent of the 14,652 voters have indicated that they will retire by the age of 65—18 percent at 60 or before, and 32 percent by 65. Almost 22 percent said they planned to retire by the age of 70; 24 percent chose the answer: You’ve got to be kidding. Can people still afford to retire? The remaining four percent chose: Does being unemployed count as being retired?

The March 2009 issue of "Tube Talk" asked subscribers about their retirement plans. A quarter of respondents, like Tom from Tennessee, had retirement well within their sights. Tom said, "Last year the wife and I targeted May 30, 2009 for my retirement; she is already retired four years.

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It's the waiting that drags you down.

With our unemployment rate edging near 10 percent, many are waiting for companies to finally rehire. I can imagine them shaking their heads when they look at the Dow's ascent in recent weeks. Somebody's making money, but it certainly isn't them.

I'm not sure if welder Charles Salak has been paying attention to the Dow, but he's been busy with home improvement projects, occasionally working for a relative, repairing farm equipment. He isn't sitting still. In August he was laid off from Katana Summit, a wind tower manufacturer in Columbus, Neb. The company had no choice. Katana is awaiting the go-head for a 200-plus tower order. Wind energy is capital-intensive, so even today, with the promise of government help, it takes time to get the green light. If and when Katana finally gets the go-ahead for the order, Salak may get his job back. But for the past few weeks he's been waiting.

New York Times reporter David Segal visited Columbus and used Salak as the centerpiece for his article, which appeared yesterday on the front page of the business section. Segal also visited Behlen Manufacturing, a metal fabricator specializing in farm products, machine tools, and custom fabrication. Especially poignant was Segal's description of idle equipment on Behlen's plant floor. Tony Raimondos Jr., son of the company president, gave the reporter a tour of the expansive, 850,000-square-foot shop floor. (If you need space, Nebraska has it.) Riding with Raimondos on a golf cart, the reporter recalled:

"Every minute or two, you come upon a couple of guys who are galvanizing metal or fabricating tubing. Mostly, it's quiet.

"'We're hopeful,' says Tony Jr., driving past an unused ... steel punching machine. 'But it's really strange to see it look like this. The other day I looked through this window in a door to the factory floor, and it was dark. During second shift.'"

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I'm fascinated by this story unfolding in Fond du Lac, Wis. The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Local 1947 voted to reject a new Mercury Marine contract on Aug. 23. The marine equipment manufacturer said thanks for the memories and announced a move of its manufacturing operations down to another facility in Oklahoma. The union had tried to organize a second vote on the original proposed contract terms, but missed a deadline of Aug. 29. The union has now organized a second vote for Sept. 3-4, and Mercury Marine has agreed to await union vote.

It's a standoff at the FDL Corral. Happy Labor Day!

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When you are laid off from two separate companies in a six-month time span, you have to sit back and think long and hard about your career path.

That's where a 25-year-old welder found himself earlier this year. He found a scholarship opportunity at Missouri State University that allows the unemployed to attend the school at reduced tuition. While he hasn't declared a major yet, the father of two wants to take some computer classes and get a part-time job.

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I understand the term's intent, and that it describes workers who are ever-more-valued. I just have reservations about how the term is used. When people think of a "knowledge worker," they think of a white-collar IT professional, engineer, doctor, or others who think to innovate, using their knowledge to better an organization.

But who doesn't?

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