The news arrived just in the nick of time. Nonfarm payrolls surged by 290,000 last month (seasonally adjusted), the biggest rise in four years. This is good news—great news, in fact, as it suggests that the labor market is in fact recovering with substantial momentum. Given yesterday’s wave of market selling around the globe, the news comes at a crucial moment in the business cycle. Indeed, the outlook would indeed appear bleak if today’s employment numbers were low or (gasp!) negative.