The latest numbers from the U.S. Labor Department show a job market gathering strength, but this economic recovery is still being led by the manufacturing sector (where President Obama has an entrenched constituency in organized labor),  not by the construction industry, which was the engine of recovery from all the other recessions I've seen in my lifetime. I still don't understand how this makes sense, politically or any other way.

The government's latest snapshot of the labor market shows the U.S. created 216,000 jobs in March, with the private sector adding 230,000, while cuts by local governments slightly offset those gains. The unemployment rate edged down to 8.8 percent. And the strong growth in manufacturing output and profits is still not translating into wage gains, probably because employers are finding so many workers available that they don't need to sweeten their offers.

Still, the Obama administration has not done much to capitalize on the latent power of construction, especially residential construction, to drive the economy. The multiplier effect of building a new home is unmatched. Think about it: Nobody buys window treatments or furniture for a new car.

As I reported last week, the auto manufacturing industry is on a real tear, sustaining sales of a million cars a month for the last six months. But imagine what the economy would look like if we were selling and building houses at a rate of a million units a year. President Obama would not be sweating re-election, and maybe we could even afford the government he's running!