Over the past several weeks we all have heard democrats touting President Obama\’s job record, as if it were some kind of sterling triumph. Specifically we have been told that we were losing 800,000 jobs a month under Bush – which comes to 9,600,000 jobs a year – but, under Obama, there has been job growth every month for years and unemployment is down to 6.1% – far lower than the 7.8% he inherited.
Tell you what: if I didn\’t know better I\’d be damn impressed. The problem is, I do know better. And I would like to share some of what I know with you.
-Let\’s start with that 800,000 jobs a month/9,600,000 jobs a year line. It sounds great…but it is a lie. Yes, there was one month where job losses hit 800,000. One. Not ten, not five, not three, but one. So the claim that we were losing 800,000 jobs a month – the implication being that it was some kind of norm under Bush – is untrue; as is the 9,600,000 job losses a year claim.
-Now let\’s talk about job growth under Obama. Yes, it is true that jobs have been created every month for years. But the vast majority of these jobs are part-time rather than full-time. Plus, not surprisingly given the lower take-home which part time jobs provide, we now have a record number of people on food stamps.
-And regarding those unemployment data? Please note that the Obama people compare President Obama\’s 5 1/2 years in office to exactly one month of President Bush\’s term – his last.
Hey, here\’s an idea: let\’s compare all of Bush\’s years to all of Obama\’s and see what we find:
Year
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
2001
4.2 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.3 4.5 4.6 4.9 5.0 5.3 5.5 5.7 2002
5.7 5.7 5.7 5.9 5.8 5.8 5.8 5.7 5.7 5.7 5.9 6.0 2003
5.8 5.9 5.9 6.0 6.1 6.3 6.2 6.1 6.1 6.0 5.8 5.7 2004
5.7 5.6 5.8 5.6 5.6 5.6 5.5 5.4 5.4 5.5 5.4 5.4 2005
5.3 5.4 5.2 5.2 5.1 5.0 5.0 4.9 5.0 5.0 5.0 4.9 2006
4.7 4.8 4.7 4.7 4.6 4.6 4.7 4.7 4.5 4.4 4.5 4.4 2007
4.6 4.5 4.4 4.5 4.4 4.6 4.7 4.6 4.7 4.7 4.7 5.0 2008
5.0 4.9 5.1 5.0 5.4 5.6 5.8 6.1 6.1 6.5 6.8 7.3 2009
7.8 Take a good look. You will see that in 91 of the 97 months during which George Bush was President (96 full months, parts of the first and last January) unemployment in this country was lower than the single best year we have had during the Obama presidency. If you want to make it exactly apples vs. apples by looking at the same point in each presidency (after 67 months) you will find that Bush\’s unemployment numbers were at or lower than Obama\’s best single number in 65 of those 67.
And this, of course, is before we get to the fact that job participation levels (i.e. the percent of people either working or actively looking for a job) have dropped to a 36 year low under Obama. Why is this important? Because, since people who are not looking for work do not count in the unemployment data, it means that the 6.1% Obama level only exists because s many people have just plain given up trying.
Want the actual data? Ok, here they are:
Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec 2001 67.2 67.1 67.2 66.9 66.7 66.7 66.8 66.5 66.8 66.7 66.7 66.7 BUSH YEARS 2002 66.5 66.8 66.6 66.7 66.7 66.6 66.5 66.6 66.7 66.6 66.4 66.3 “ 2003 66.4 66.4 66.3 66.4 66.4 66.5 66.2 66.1 66.1 66.1 66.1 65.9 “ 2004 66.1 66.0 66.0 65.9 66.0 66.1 66.1 66.0 65.8 65.9 66.0 65.9 “ 2005 65.8 65.9 65.9 66.1 66.1 66.1 66.1 66.2 66.1 66.1 66.0 66.0 “ 2006 66.0 66.1 66.2 66.1 66.1 66.2 66.1 66.2 66.1 66.2 66.3 66.4 “ 2007 66.4 66.3 66.2 65.9 66.0 66.0 66.0 65.8 66.0 65.8 66.0 66.0 “ 2008
66.2
66.0
66.1
65.9
66.1
66.1
66.1
66.1
66.0
66.0
65.9
65.8 “ 2009 65.7 65.8 65.6 65.7 65.7 65.7 65.5 65.4 65.1 65.0 65.0 64.6 OBAMA YEARS 2010 64.8 64.9 64.9 65.2 64.9 64.6 64.6 64.7 64.6 64.4 64.6 64.3 “ 2011 64.2 64.2 64.2 64.2 64.2 64.0 64.0 64.1 64.2 64.1 64.1 64.0 “ 2012 63.7 63.9 63.8 63.7 63.8 63.8 63.7 63.5 63.6 63.7 63.6 63.6 “ 2013 63.6 63.5 63.3 63.4 63.4 63.5 63.4 63.2 63.2 62.8 63.0 62.8 “ 2014 63.0 63.0 63.2 62.8 62.8 62.8 “ As you can see, Bush started with a 67.2% job participation rate and ended at 65.7%. Not good.
By contrast, Obama started at 65.7 and instead of getting it back to where it was before the Bush years, maybe even higher, he has overseen a much steeper drop, down to the current 62.8% level. Under Obama the job participation rate decreased twice as much as it did under Bush. He took it from “not good” to “edge of utter disaster”.
Factor that difference in, and the unemployment rate is well beyond anything we saw even in the worst of Mr. Bush\’s years.
Ok, there\’s a nice big dose of reality: some facts to consider when a Democrat operative or one of their Accomplice Media pontificates about how much rosier the economy is under Barack Obama than it seems to you.
It is good to have both sides of the story. So now you have the side less told. Please take it into account before making any conclusions.
