CHART: Under Obama, Economy Has Recovered All Private Sector Jobs Lost During Bush Recession

[kpete]

Source: Think Progress

CHART: Under Obama, Economy Has Recovered All Private Sector Jobs Lost During Bush Recession
By Guest Blogger on May 4, 2012 at 3:00 pm


As of April, there are now more private sector jobs in the United States than there were in January 2009, when President Obama took office. You read that right. We have now replaced all of the private sector jobs lost while Obama has been president. And that was no mean feat, given that over the course of 2009, the private sector shed about 4.2 million jobs.

Unfortunately, the news is not nearly so good when it comes to the public sector, where there are currently 607,000 fewer people working than there were when President Obama took office.

The chart below tells the whole story. Under President Obama, the private sector has experienced a relatively robust recovery, and is now back to where it started when he took office. The public sector continues to shed jobs, and as a result, the overall jobs picture in the US remains weak. If you want to understand why conservative efforts to slash funding for teachers, firefighters, cops is bad for the economy, look no further than this graph.



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[newburgh]

1. look at all those great jobs out there.

[may3rd]

3. Just look at that great chart.

There are automotive layoffs coming in my part of the country. I suspect the won't be mentioned over the summer but that chart won't mention loss of high pay vs net min wage jobs.

[cosmicone]

5. hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

which side are you on?

[Lionessa]

6. The only side that matters, the side of those in need of quality jobs. You?

[cosmicone]

8. my post wasn't directed at you

and I have nothing against better quality jobs, but that other post appeared to downplay Obama's accomplishment by emphasizing the negative.

The choice was between no job and job -- Obama has accomplished it.

The next phase would be between any job and good job -- it will take longer.

[Lionessa]

9. What a load of crap.

But hey, whatever you gotta blow up your skirt, I guess.

[dennis4868]

23. You should know by now....

this site is for the most part anti Obama...anything negative they will jump on it and pound Obama. Romney is lucky to have these people here at DU.

[cosmicone]

27. I was starting to feel like I was on some freeper forum

Thank you for your post.

[dennis4868]

30. for the most part

this is a freeper website...hardly come here anymore...it's all hyperspeculation and nonsense!

[dennis4868]

24. you are foolish to think...

that after almost going into a depression that "quality" jobs are going to come back in just a couple of years (especially considering that the repubs have blocked all of Obama's jobs bills the past 2 years). Most economist said in 2008 that it will take 5-10 years for things to get back to normal. A job is better than no job. I lost my job, got a new job thanks to the stimulus and even though it does not pay what I was making before, it's still a job, puts food on the table and makes me feel I have a purpose in life.

Obama2012!

[Lionessa]

28. And you are foolish to not recognize my point.

Of course it takes time to recover. The question is, what has Obama done that was middle class recovery oriented? Virtually nothing. Granted the stimulus gave some folks crappy jobs for the meantime, but has he done anything to support or expand or re-inforce unions? NO. Did he make a condition of banks getting trillions that they had to pass those trillions thru to the masses in need of mortgage assistance? NO. Has he gone after in anyway the fuel companies who are making record profits gouging the public on gas prices? NO. Did Fannie and Freddie extend mortgage help to the masses, well, sort of but not really, instead they've been buying the foreclosures that Citi and others can't unload at ridiculous profits (my home foreclosed with only $120K left on it which the bank told me was underwater, but for some reason Fannie bought the property at an inflated price of 140K from Citi. So they still made a nice extra profit (remember that for the first 15 of a 30 year loan almost all of the payments are interest profit for the loan) of $20K. Why wouldn't Fannie buy that directly from me so I could have received the profit, but no....

Sorry, you can cheerlead all you want, but Obama has not done anything but speechify about the middle class, his actions are all to give profits to banks, insurers, huge corporations, and defense contractors.

[dennis4868]

29. sorry you have...

Obama Derangement Syndrome.....facts don't mean a thing to you. It's all hyperspeculation and nonsense and no facts...WHAT HAS OBAMA DONE? hahaha....can't believe this....haha!

[Lionessa]

31. And I find it hard to believe that you don't know how much worse many lives have

become in the past 3+ years, and the callousness you have against those of us who are having to unfortunately live it.

[dennis4868]

32. so go ahead...

and blame Obama who has put forth jobs bill after jobs bill to be only blocked time after time by the repubs who want a sluggish economy so uninformed people like you will blame Obama. Repubs love you man!

[Lionessa]

33. Surprisngly there's enough blame to go around to Obama and the Repubs and the BlueDogs and

the Supreme Court, and the 1%.

What you're suggesting is that I entirely forget and absolve Obama, which I won't do.

[dennis4868]

34. that's fine...

blame Obama for traveling around the country and going directly to congress to pass jobs bills that the CBO and every objective economists said would create millions and millions of jobs and knock the unemployment rate down by 1%....blame Obama for that. Now I know where you are coming from. REPUBS LOVE YOU MAN!

[Lionessa]

38. I care not if Repubs love or hate me. I deal in facts, not the apparently BS Hope&Change

that has to date been offered. And if the jobs bill is the only thing you have to point to after 3+ years, I think you actually keep making my point for me and show a very limited ability on your part to look at a big picture wherein the middle class needed, and still needs, more consideration than just a jobs bill.

[dennis4868]

40. sorry...not reading your posts anymore....

too busy trying to keep a Dem in the WH which will save medicare, medicaid, ACA, more jobs, etc...don't have time for EMOPROGS.

[Lionessa]

41. Well, he is definitely the lesser of evils so I won't be fighting you doiing your best.

[Bandit]

37. You do know that all the money given to the banks under TARP was under Bush*

and not Obama don't you.. Obama pretty much gave the auto industry new life and that includes millions of jobs saved..Millions..He has steered the nation towards recovery without any help what-so-ever from the Republican side and in fact major opposition from them..He signed the Lilly Ledbetter Act into Law immediately upon taking office. He has not spent more than two thirds of his time on vacation like his predecessor. I do not believe you pay very close attention to what is going on in America and quite likely you get a portion of your "news" from Fox...

[Lionessa]

39. Correct me if I'm wrong, it was decided under Bush but half was distributed under Obama wherein

we were at least temporarily under the impression that his admin had an opportunity to tag on some conditions but chose not to.

[Dawson Leery]

2. kick

[Iliyah]

4. Not good enouogh

per Mittens. Vote for him and he will create 500,000 per month forever.

With nothing but obstruction from the insane party of no, I'm surprised that there are jobs in the plus not in the minus. Something is working be it a slow push "forward". - LOL

[kickysnana]

7. I guess my family is the exception huh?

Niece with a college degree still unemployed
3 nephews graduated High School in the last 3 years. None are working, even part time two are in further education. None have substance abuse problems. One is an Eagle scout.
One college niece is working PT for the college.
Brother computer security specialist, still working only temp jobs
Ex-brother-in-law Senior Systems Analyst working as an overnight stocker a Target.
My Part Time pay was cut 10% two years ago.
Nephew laid off as restaurant manager working as a waiter hoping to move up to bartender in the summer.
Sister laid off as a FT teacher working as a substitute.
Brother-in-law Marine lawyer retired at 20 years a working temp defense attorney in an outlying county hoping to get work that is not a 2 hour drive one way, has 6 kids youngest 1st grade oldest just started college. His retirement covers his mortgage, utilities and food only. His home purchased after retirement in 2008 is underwater by thousands of $$$. His daughters college fund was found to contain less than what they had contributed to it.

But perhaps the misinformation will generate a few votes to win the for our favorite candidate so it is OK and then he will morph into a President we can all admire, the one he plays on TV. Hallelujah.

[Gore1FL]

10. I missed the implication in the original post that things were rosey when he took office n/t

[Igel]

16. Yes, you did.

All the private sector jobs lost during the Bush recession are back.

All the private sector jobs lost since Obama took office are back.

So ... The cumulative job losses due to the Bush recession began no earlier than the day Obama took office.

Of course, we have to assume that all the private sector jobs now are similar in pay and conditions of employment to those on 1/1/09.

Granted, the implication requires that the headline be included as part of the article.

[Tarheel_Dem]

11. And you blame President Obama for all that ?

[kickysnana]

12. Nope, I am challenging the data conclusions. What good is inaccurate data except for propaganda?

Does Obama need propaganda? I sure hope not. Then why is it being done?

Lying is wrong. Lying is stupid. Lying is dangerous.

Our freedom (and prosperity) depends on an educated, informed electorate.

Just because the other party did it and got away with it, is not a reason that we should do it.

[Yo_Mama]

14. Clapping

Yes, this type of thing can only hurt Obama's reelection campaign.

[kickysnana]

18. But save his Presidency and America.

[Yo_Mama]

22. Only honesty will save us

Anyway, sitting presidents are never served by lying about jobs. If they're not there, people know they are not there.

The OP is an attempt to distort the truth. And people are going to know it. They know if they aren't working, if their friends aren't working, if their family isn't working, etc.

Jobs are one thing an administration can never afford to be overoptimistic about. People will go along if you admit the problem and are working on it and talking about it. But they go batshit nuts when you try to pretend it isn't even happening.

[Tarheel_Dem]

19. I'm sorry, but your anecdotal evidence notwithstanding, doesn't negate the data.

If you can offer some contradictory "scientific" data as laid out in the o.p., then I'm willing to consider it. But just because you have friends & family members going through personal challenges at the moment, in no way, is a substantive rebuttal. Not everyone in America is experiencing your particular set of challenges, therefore you can't speak for all of us.

[Yo_Mama]

13. Well, the recession started a lot earlier than January 2009

The end of the recession was very close then. This is what the actual level of employment looks like, and to claim differently makes us look like fools:

[OrwellwasRight]

20. Agree. The headline on the OP is very misleading.

It will be called out by the right wing. It won't help our cause.

[underpants]

15. This information is "leftwing internet" only. Will barely be mentioned on the MSM. n/t

[Igel]

17. Good thing, that.

The bottom of the downturn was 3 years ago. Obama was inaugurated when employment was falling, but not at the very start of the drop in employment.

By now, after most recessions, employment would be back to nearly where it had been before the recession. Instead, we have two caveats in the chart that we're so uplifted by.

1. We start counting after some of the most severe job losses. The only part of the recession we care about is the part under Obama.

2. We only care about private sector jobs. In pretty much every recession local governments cut jobs because tax revenues plummet and because states can't rack up operation-expense debt. This recession is somehow special in that we expected no government jobs to be lost so we decide to only focus on private sector job creation.

Better response: This wasn't a normal recession, this was a financial crisis. Financial crises (a) take longer to recover from and (b) tend to be a bit less tractable when it comes to having a messiah come to save the country from them.

Downside: Most recessions and financial crises cause a restructuring and reduction of parts of the economy, parts that are inefficient or whose disappearance makes room for later growth. We've dragged this out.

[Psephos]

21. My eyeballs - and THIS chart - say different.

Umm, WE are supposed to be FOR the downtrodden. It hurts the jobless, instead of helping them, when lies with statistics such as this are told. It hurts them by placating and numbing the very forces we need to be motivated to put political pressure to work in favor of real solutions.

Try this instead. There are plenty more where it came from.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/the-incredible-shrinking-labor-force/2012/05/04/gIQANXAy1T_blog.html?hpid=z1

[Enrique]

25. the first paragraph says a lot

kudos to Ezra Klein, who imo is often guilty of downplaying economic pain.

If the same percentage of adults were in the workforce today as when Barack Obama took office, the unemployment rate would be 11.1 percent. If the percentage was where it was when George W. Bush took office, the unemployment rate would be 13.1 percent.

[FarCenter]

35. Since the baby boomers are going into retirement, the percent of adults in the workforce will shrink

[slackmaster]

26. The population has grown since January 2009, so in reality that chart shows...

...that the percentage of people who are employed now is still lower than it was then.

http://www.amazon.com/How-Lie-Statistics-Darrell-Huff/dp/0393310728/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1336315372&sr=1-1

[Kingofalldems]

36. Kick and Rec for the mole/disruptor crowd

[One_Life_To_Give]

42. Since the crash was mid 2008

Saying the economy is as good as it was in Jan 2009 doesn't help much since it already sucked.

http://www.shadowstats.com/charts/employment/payrolls/time-series#CES0500000001
This chart shows we have a ways to go to hit the 2008 peak. It's more than just the 1 million gov't jobs lost since peak in 2010.