Today’s unemployment claims data show that a total of 9.7 million people are currently collecting unemployment checks in the U.S.  As the chart below displays, that is well above the 8 million who collected unemployment checks when Democrats forced their trillion-dollar stimulus plan through Congress. Over that same period, the number of people collecting paychecks plunged from 141.7 million in February 2009 to 139 million today.

Neither clever talking points from the Administration nor white papers from economists can change the fact that stimulus has failed, evidenced by the fact that since its passage, the number of people collecting unemployment checks has risen by 1.7 million while the number of people collecting paychecks has dropped by 2.7 million.

Source: U.S. Department of Labor unemployment claims and household survey data. Unemployment checks for February 2009 reflects persons claiming unemployment benefits in major State and Federal programs the week ending February 14, 2009, which was when the House and Senate approved Democrats’ 2009 stimulus plan (February 13, 2009); the most recent week of full unemployment claims data is the week ending August 14, 2010. The number of people collecting paychecks reflects the number employed according to DOL’s household survey, in February 2009 and July 2010 which is the most recent data.  Employment data for August 2010 will be released on Friday, September 3, 2010.

###