Good news amidst the bad

This won't make the front pages of the papers:

The nation's unemployment rate dipped to a four-year low of 4.9 percent in August as companies added 169,000 jobs, a sign that the labor market continued to gain traction before Hurricane Katrina struck.

Some nice economic news heading in to the weekend.

Treasury Secretary John Snow noted this improvement and said it showed the economy had good momentum that would enable it to withstand the economic fallout from Katrina and surging oil prices. Snow said growth would be a bit slower for a brief period of a quarter or two.

"I am confident, based on the strong economy that we have, that we will recover and recover well," he said.

A strong and growing national economy is the best buffer for the oil price shocks and disruptions caused, in part, on hurricane Katrina. We're fortunate to have that solid base, and we'll hope for continuing positive trends.