The April jobs report, which showed 223,000 net new jobs, was a distinct improvement on the dismal March report (which was revised further downward to a mere 85,000 jobs created that month). The unemployment rate dipped a notch to 5.4 percent, getting, slowly, closer to the Federal Reserve target of 5 percent.

The participation rate, the measure of people who have or are looking for work, edged up to 62.8 percent, but that’s lower than it was in January, and only .2 percent higher than it was a year ago.

Wages picked up a bit and are about 2.2 percent higher than a year ago, above the recent average of 2 percent.

In all, the employment picture continues the slow improvement of the Obama recovery. No one could call it robust, but at least it is moving in the right direction.