JLabel inside for-loop acting irratic

I have a for-loop that goes through an ArrayList and a String array and
creates a new JLabel. It is then added to a JPanel and displayed.

Below is my code:

        for(int x = 0; x < problemListCount; x++){

            for(int y = 0; y < 3; y++){

                JLabel label = new JLabel(problemsList[x][y]);
                problems.add(label);
                label.setBounds(xDistance,
                                        yDistance,
                                        label.getPreferredSize().width,

label.getPreferredSize().height);

                System.out.println("For pass " + passCount++);
                System.out.println("xDistance = " + xDistance);
                System.out.println("yDistance = " + yDistance);

                xDistance = xDistance + label.getPreferredSize().width
+ 10;

                System.out.println(label.getBounds().x + " " +
label.getBounds().y);

            }

            xDistance = 10;
            yDistance = yDistance + 30;

Now what this should do, is print out the items in a grid with 3
columns (there are 3 fields in the inner array). However, when I run
it, the JLabels form a straight row until the loop is complete. The
system.out statements show a normal progression of the values of both
the xDistance and yDistance variables as well as the getBounds, which
is why this is so vexing to me.

Oh ya, I'm also a newb, perhaps I cant put a label in a loop like that
expecting multiple labels to show up?

If so, how would I print information from a ListArray where I wont know
the length of the Array, but need to be able to edit the information.

Thanks