for the second straight summer, the u.s. recovery hit a wall. unemployment is on the wrong side of 9 percent. the velocity of job creation is one-third of the pace we need to keep up with our growing population. to understand why, let's start at square one: where do jobs come from? that's no childish question, but it deserves a simple answer. a job is born when demand grows faster than productivity, either because consumers buy more of the same stuff or because innovations create new stuff.