The new jobs number for December is out, and while it doesn't show we're on the way to recovery, it shows signs of recovery, and so we have reason to smile.

The U.S. economy gained 200,000 jobs in December and the unemployment rate fell to 8.5%, the Labor Department said Friday. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had forecast the U.S. would add 150,000 jobs last month, with the jobless rate edging up to 8.7% from an initially reported 8.6% in November.

And now a chart, showing the number of net jobs gained/lost each month since this recession started.  Red columns point to monthly job totals under the Bush administration, while blue columns point to job totals under the Obama administration.