If you are keeping score more than eight million jobs were lost under the policies of President Bush. President Obama spent almost a $1 trillion to restore 2.5 million jobs under TARP and another 700,000 have been added since then.
U.S. employment increased by 200,000 in December, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said today. Job gains occurred in transportation and warehousing, retail trade, manufacturing, health care, and mining. Both the number of unemployed persons (13.1 million) and the unemployment rate (8.5%) continued to statistically decrease in December.
The 200,000 employment increase is roughly half of what is needed each month to return the almost 20 million under-employed and unemployed back to full-time work as taxpayers in the still ailing U.S. economy. At this rate it will take a decade or more to return to pre-Great Recession levels. Since 80% of workers in the U.S. commute to work in a vehicle, the unemployment crisis hurts the auto industry’s prospects and its fragile, mostly jobless, recovery that is underway.
“Most importantly, we need to extend the payroll tax cut and continue to provide emergency unemployment benefits through the end of this year, and take other steps the President has proposed in the American Jobs Act,” said Alan B. Krueger in an obvious jab at the Republican party, which has blocked all job creating attempts of the Administration. Krueger who works for President Obama as the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, knows full well that job creation after the economic collapse presided over by the Bush Administration will be the focus of 2012 Presidential and Congressional campaigns.
“Today marks the 35th consecutive month of unemployment above eight percent, and too many Americans continue to struggle to find their next job. In order to achieve sustained, robust job growth, both parties must work together on common-sense solutions to help small businesses create jobs,” said House Speaker John Boehner, a Republican from Ohio.
Boehner’s challenge is that even if Boehner wanted to help the economy improve before the election – a dubious proposition in itself – it is clear he cannot deliver the votes needed because of ultra-right wing Republican opposition, as demonstrated most recently and once again by the payroll tax cut fiasco.
If only all such political bickering, posturing and empty talk around unemployment were producing actual jobs, then all Americans would be working, building the economy and supporting government by paying taxes. As it is, the rich are getting richer and the middle class is shrinking. If you are keeping score more than eight million jobs were lost under the policies of President Bush. President Obama spent almost a $1 trillion to restore ~2.5 million jobs under TARP at the beginning of his administration, and another ~700,000 have been added since then.
The civilian labor force participation rate (64.0%) and the employment-population ratio (58.5%) were both unchanged over the month. More than 46 million people live in poverty. Anyone declaring victory at this time would sound as foolish as the statements by Tory General Howe and George III at the beginning of the American Revolution.
Spin aside, the actual number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was little changed at 5.6 million and accounted for 42.5% of the unemployed.
Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rate for adult men decreased to 8.0% in December. The jobless rates for adult women (7.9%), teenagers (23.1%), whites (7.5%), blacks (15.8%), and Hispanics (11.0%) showed little change. The jobless rate for Asians was 6.8%, not seasonally adjusted.
Private business employment rose by 212,000 in December and by 1.9 million during what was a lackluster year. Government employment changed little over the month, but fell by 280,000 in 2011. Job losses occurred in local government; state government, excluding education; and the U.S. Postal Service.
