Worst Recovery since Great Depression Continues
For Every One Job, This Administration Has “Created” 67 Workforce Dropouts
President Obama’s economic adviser, Alan Krueger, noted on September 27, 2012 that “total employment likely grew by 386,000 more jobs than previously announced during the 12 months from March 2011 to March 2012.” The changes were the result of a “preliminary estimate of the upcoming annual benchmark revision to the establishment survey employment series.”
Translation: The Department of Labor has a new preliminary estimate for payroll employment that won’t be finalized and reflected in official Department of Labor jobs data until next year. Huffington Post declared flatly that this “could have a big political payoff for President Obama” under the headline “New Data Show Net Job Growth Under Barack Obama.”
But is President Obama really a “job creator” – especially while he continues to preside over the worst recovery since the Great Depression? Not so much.
Stand back and look at the “whole” jobs picture. The failed policies of the Obama Administration have left millions of Americans so discouraged about finding a job today that they have simply stopped looking altogether. The reality is, since Barack Obama became President in January 2009, over 8.4 million more Americans have given up on trying to find work and dropped out of the workforce. That’s the prime reason the “official” labor force has been generally stable for the past four years at a little over 154 million – the growing population of working age individuals roughly matches the growing numbers dropping out of the labor force. So, finally matching the number of jobs in January 2009 (after the President has been in office for 43 months) would be a cause for celebration if (1) January 2009 were a good month for employment (it wasn’t), and (2) the same number of people needed a job today as then.
In fact, using these latest “benchmark estimates,” for every one job, President Obama has “created” 67 new workforce dropouts.
That’s hardly a record to brag about.
Stand back and look at the “whole” jobs picture. The failed policies of the Obama Administration have left millions of Americans so discouraged about finding a job today that they have simply stopped looking altogether. The reality is, since Barack Obama became President in January 2009, over 8.4 million more Americans have given up on trying to find work and dropped out of the workforce. That’s the prime reason the “official” labor force has been generally stable for the past four years at a little over 154 million – the growing population of working age individuals roughly matches the growing numbers dropping out of the labor force. So, finally matching the number of jobs in January 2009 (after the President has been in office for 43 months) would be a cause for celebration if (1) January 2009 were a good month for employment (it wasn’t), and (2) the same number of people needed a job today as then.
In fact, using these latest “benchmark estimates,” for every one job, President Obama has “created” 67 new workforce dropouts.
That’s hardly a record to brag about.
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