New figures show unemployment in America at its lowest level for five years, giving Republicans something to cheer at last

ONE imagines that Republican politicians and staffers have been doing a lot of praying over the past few weeks, as polls suggest it is all-but-certain that the party will lose control of at least one house of Congress in the pending mid-term elections. So new jobs figures released on Friday November 3rd must seem to be some sort of divine response. America%26rsquo;s Bureau of Labour Statistics now suggests that unemployment has dropped to 4.4%, the lowest level in five years%26mdash;and better than all but the last two bubbly years of the Clinton administration, to which campaigning Democrats have often implicitly offered a return.

The headline unemployment figure has been good for a while, of course. But many economists have suggested that this conceals softness in the labour market. Wages have been stagnant since George Bush took office, and labour-force participation is still a full percentage point below the levels enjoyed under Bill Clinton. Critics of Mr Bush and his economic policies have been arguing in the run-up to the election that the strong economy is a myth, with ordinary Americans sinking into misery while the lucky rich snatch all the gains from robust growth.