Good news for you recently-unemployed types (all 3 million of you in the past few years). Have you caught yourself pining away for those days of 1998, 1999, and 2000, an era in which you safely pulled in semi-comfortable wages and found yourself ensconced in a middle-class lifestyle?

Well, start buying those Brita water filters and other disposable goods again, because the Bush Recession (which I think ought to have been called the Clinton recession, if you ask me) is almost over! This, according to statements made by job market analysts, as covered in the New York Times. Get ready to grin, Johnny Jobless, because here's their optimistic lead-in:

"The restaurant industry has gone on a hiring spree over the last four months, suggesting that broader gains in the job market could be on the way...Some economists say that an increase in low-wage jobs, which include most restaurant work, indicates that the job market over all will soon bounce back. During the economic doldrums of the early 1990's, hiring began to increase in the restaurant industry about six months before job creation began taking off. The striking fact of this economic recovery, like the previous one, has been how long it has lasted without igniting job growth."

Not optimistic enough for ya? Hey, Mr. and Mrs. Sourpuss, what are those unemployment checks paying for then? Certainly not smiles!

What's that, you say? You've exhausted your unemployment benefits after losing your job at the steel mill or the office-supply company? Well, you say you're looking for work, but some of my blue-blooded friends think you're not looking hard enough! Jobs, it seems, are looking for you!

The search for employees who view the restaurant industry as a possible career has at least one McDonald's franchisee near Cherry Hill scouting for management recruits. Edward Baim, who owns 11 McDonald's restaurants in southern New Jersey and Philadelphia, makes recruiting trips to local colleges and vocational schools and promotes jobs in the food industry whenever he can.

"It just boggles my mind when we see all these things on TV about people who are out of a job," Mr. Baim said. "I can point to people in my organization that started as a burger flipper and are now making $70,000."

He added: "Anybody that really wants to work could find a position. I've probably got two or three open right now."

Now if only they were hiring good job market analysts.