Despite the Administration’s declaration that this is the “Summer of Recovery,” data released today by the U.S. Department of Labor, and the chart below, show that virtually the entire country is experiencing a yet another season of continued unemployment. Through May 2010, the latest data available, a total of 48 out of 50 states have seen a net job loss since the President signed the… Read more

CHRISTINA ROMER, Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers:  “By mid-2010, fiscal stimulus will likely be contributing little to growth.” (October 22, 2009) LARRY SUMMERS, Director of the National Economic Council: “Given fiscal lag, the Recovery Act is still gaining force and having increasing impact.” (June 8, 2010) Source: “The Job Impact of the American Recovery and… Read more

Vice President Biden on June 2, 2010 predicted that jobs would grow by a total of 700,000 to 1.4 million during the remainder of 2010: “I think we'll create between 100,000 and 200,000 jobs on average all the way through this year.”  As the chart below shows, even his best case scenario would leave us 6 million jobs short of the Administration’s original predictions for stimulus job… Read more

While the President went to Ohio Monday and repeatedly claimed his trillion-dollar 2009 stimulus plan was “the right thing to do,” it’s hard to tell that from looking at the job situation across the U.S.  According to the latest data from the U.S. Department of Labor, and the chart below, through April 2010 a total of 48 out of 50 States had seen net job losses since the President signed… Read more

The Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call noted on May 10, 2010 that even Democrats say the Obama Administration “hasn’t done enough” to prioritize job creation.  “We were told we would focus like a laser after December.  Well, we haven’t exactly been focused like a laser on jobs,” said Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR).  DeFazio went on to describe Administration stimulus spending priorities as… Read more

The latest monthly jobs report shows the unemployment rate still hovering around 10 percent, at 9.9 percent in April. This is 2.5 percentage points (34 percent) higher than the unemployment rate the President promised once his stimulus bill was enacted. Source: “The Job Impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan” (i.e. the Administration’s January 2009 Romer/Bernstein… Read more

One week ago, Vice President Biden predicted that “some time in the next couple of months we're going to be creating between 250,000 jobs a month and 500,000 jobs a month."  That the Administration is making job predictions at all may seem surprising given their dubious record on predicting job growth and unemployment rates.  For example, instead of creating 3.7 million jobs and holding… Read more

While the President recently said the economy had “turned a corner,” it’s hard to tell that from looking at the job situation across the U.S.  According to the latest data from the U.S. Department of Labor, and the chart below, through March 2010 a total of 48 out of 50 States had seen net job losses since the President signed the Democrats’ stimulus plan into law in February 2009.  The… Read more

On Sunday April 4, 2010, in discussing the effects of the Democrats’ February 2009 economic stimulus package, Dr. Christina Romer, Chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, said "I think it has done exactly what we would say it would do." Fortunately, a solid set of data exists to judge the accuracy of such claims. In January 2009, the Administration released a detailed… Read more

Ways and Means Ranking Member Dave Camp (R-MI) today released data showing the “Obama Misery Index” – the combined change in unemployment and public debt since the President took office – has skyrocketed 57 percent through the first quarter of 2010.  Camp stated, “The Obama Misery Index highlights how the Democrats’ stimulus plan has been a costly failure.  Since the President took… Read more