Do the math on job numbers

Because the Washington Post obviously can't.

The Labor Department's employment report -- and other figures released last week -- depict an economy that remained generally healthy in September outside of the slumping housing market. Workers found jobs and got paid more, while consumers hit the stores and auto showrooms to spend some of the extra cash gained from falling gasoline prices. . .

Demand for labor helped drive workers' average hourly wages, not including those of most managers, up to $16.84 last month. That's a 4 percent increase from September 2005, the fastest wage growth in more than five years.

So, lets see: wages have risen by 4.0 in the past 12 months, while inflation has risen by 3.8 percent in the past 12 months. And that means hourly wages are rising impressively? Sadly, that .2 percent growth in real wages may just be the best wage growth in the past five years. The economy created a mere 51,000 in jobs, the weakest total in a year and not enough to keep up with population growth, and yet the job numbers remain strong? Ok.

How do these business writers keep their jobs?