Jobs up 290,000; jobless rate rises to 9.9 pct.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- More confident employers stepped up job creation in April, expanding payrolls by 290,000, the most in four years. The jobless rate rose to 9.9 percent as people streamed back into the market looking for work.

The hiring of 66,000 temporary government workers to conduct the census helped overall payroll growth last month. However, private employers -- the backbone of the economy -- boosted jobs, too. They added a surprisingly strong 231,000 positions last month, also the most since March 2006, the Labor Department reported Friday.

The unemployment rate rose from 9.7 percent in March to 9.9 percent in April, mainly because 805,000 jobseekers -- perhaps feeling better about their prospects -- resumed their searches for work.

Which means the past unemployment figures have been artificially low because many of the unemployed have given up looking for work. Heaven knows how deep the jobless cavern actually is; 17%, 18%, more?