Today’s jobs report from the Department of Labor shows that the U.S. gained only 69,000 jobs in the month of May.  It also marks the 40th consecutive month that the unemployment rate has remained above 8 percent, repudiating the Administration’s pledge that unemployment would remain below 8 percent if their 2009 stimulus plan became law. 

Question: If the U.S. continues to struggle under the failed policies that have produced the “Obama economy” and adds only 69,000 jobs each month in the future, how long will it take to restore the jobs lost since the start of this recession?

Answer: It will take a total of 10 years and 5 months – until June 2018 – to regain all the jobs lost during the latest recession.*  To put this in perspective, as the table below shows, this is longer than the 8 years it took to regain the jobs lost during the Great Depression.

*Nonfarm payroll employment peaked at 138.0 million in January 2008.  In May 2012 it was 133.0 million.
Sources: Bureau of Labor Statistics and U.S. Census Bureau