When the Dow Jones industrial average rang up to 10,000 points this week, many people cheered the recovery of some 3,500 points from just over six months ago.

Certainly that helps people recover some of their investment losses. But does it signal an overall economic recovery?

Most economists say no. The jobless rates across the country are still high. Michigan is approaching 16 percent. Alaska, with less than 9 percent, is one of the lowest in the nation. Does that make you feel any better?

If you have a job, you’re in better shape than some places where people line up around the block for unemployment benefits and others spending hours in the library sending out resumes and checking job listings.

Here at the Frontiersman, we’ve seen it in our effort to sell classified advertising to employers looking to fill vacant spots. We’re being told over and over they aren’t hiring because their employees are sticking around. People who have jobs aren’t moving around the way they did in better times, looking for better work or higher pay. Those who quit full-time work for higher paying seasonal jobs are regretting it now.

The 8.9 percent jobless rate ran into September here, so some of those jobs were seasonal and come to an end as winter approaches. So, it’s likely the jobless rate here will grow some as we settle in without tourism, a slow down in commercial fishing and some cutbacks on the Slope and many at the railroad.

So, while Alaska appears to be in good shape nationally, tell that to people you know who are looking and can’t find work.

And pity the poor souls who drove the highway up from Outside thinking our low numbers meant work was to be had.

They’ve either headed back south by now, or they’re going to need help getting though the winter. It just goes to show that good news on Wall Street doesn’t always transfer to good news on Main Street. Economists are saying overall national economic improvement typically trails the Dow’s good news by six months. So come spring, maybe things will be looking up. Of course, by spring, most Alaskans have a rosier attitude anyway.

And then come the tourists and construction and other seasonal jobs.

Six months is a long time, though, to wait for help to come.