6 Key Facts About The State Of The American Jobs Market In 2012

By Pat Garofalo and Travis Waldron/Think Progress

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today that the economy created 157,000 jobs last month. With significant upward revisions to previous months (including revising November up to nearly 250,000 jobs created), the jobs picture for 2012 is much clearer. Here’s where things stand:

1) 181,00 jobs per month were created in 2012. In 2011, it was 175,000 per month. Calculated Risk charts the improvement:

2) 2.17 million jobs were created in 2012. As Steve Benen noted, this “is the best annual total since 2005, and tops seven of the eight years Bush/Cheney was in office.”

3) The so-called “fiscal cliff” didn’t create “uncertainty.” During the fourth quarter of last year, with the “fiscal cliff” looming, 201,000 jobs were created per month. “All these concerns that the fiscal uncertainty deterred businesses from hiring, they certainly haven’t materialized,” said UniCredit economist Harm Bandholz.

4) 74,000 government jobs were lost last year. This includes 9,000 layoffs last month, 2,000 of which were in education.  Since February 2010, the public sector has lost 600,000 jobs.

5) 5.5 million lost jobs have been recovered. As Bloomberg News noted, “The economy has recovered 5.51 million of the 8.74 million jobs that were lost as a result of the last recession.”

6) About 100,000 construction jobs were created in the last four months. In a sign that the housing market is rebounding, the economy has added 296,000 construction jobs since January 2011, and a third of those gains occurred in the final four months of 2012. Still, construction employment is 2 million jobs below its 2006 peak.

Romney Campaign Massively Downgrades The Number Of Jobs It Claims He Created From 100,000 To ‘Thousands’

By Alex Seitz-Wald/Think Progress

In its effort to sell Mitt Romney as someone who understands the economy and knows how to create jobs, one of his campaign’s early talking points was that he helped create 100,000 jobs during his tenure at Bain Capital. The campaign repeated the claim throughout the primary, despite a glaring lack ofevidence to support it (even Sarah Palin doubted it).

Romney eventually stopped repeating the talking point, which advisers had difficulty defending under pressure, and now it seems Boston has completely Etch A Sketched the number and severely lowered the number of jobs Romney is supposed to have created at Bain.

BuzzFeed’s Zeke Miller reports that, in the wake of the Obama campaign’s new ad attacking Romney’s record at Bain, the “new Romney jobs math” is significantly more modest than the old. This time, the campaign is asserting that Romney created a meager and vague “thousands of jobs” at Bain and “tens of thousands” of jobs as governor of Massachusetts.

This is nothing less than an admission from the Romney campaign that their 100,000 jobs claim was entirely bogus, and acceptance that Romney created vastly fewer jobs than he claimed he had just a few months ago. It’s a welcome return to reality, but calls into question any piece of evidence the campaign puts forward. (In 1994, he claimed in an ad that he created 10,000 jobs at Bain.)

Meanwhile, even the “thousands of jobs” figure should be suspect, as the evidence the campaign offers to support it is an editorial from the right-wing Washington Examiner endorsing Romney. Could the Romney campaign not find a single better piece of evidence — a news article, government data, or economist’s estimate, for instance — than an unsubstantiated opinion article from a paper that is simultaneously declaring that it favors Romney’s election?

And his assertion on his record as governor also fails to include the context that his state was47th out of 50 on job creation.

GOP refuses to focus on job creation

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PoliticsNation:Nice try Rick Scott, we got you.

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Gov. Rick Scott Aide Admits That Scott’s Corporate Tax Cut Won’t Create Jobs

By Tanya Somanader/Think Progress

Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) started out as the jobs candidate, promising to create 700,000 jobs “on top of” the jobs added from Florida’s normal growth. He then revised that plan down to just “700,000″ before recently declaring, “I don’t have to create any jobs.”

Scott’s need to divorce himself from his own job-creation promises is not surprising, since many of his policies have actually killed job growth. While admitting that his preference is to cut “people,” Scott has directed his focus toward corporate tax cuts rather than job creation. In fact, his legislative affairs director Jon Costello publicly admitted as much. Asked about the value of Scott’s most recent corporate tax break, Costello admitted “quite frankly” that the tax breaks might not be enough for a company to hire even one person:

Rep. Evan Jenne, D-Dania Beach, asked Costello of the governor’s plan would require that companies create jobs in exchange for the new tax breaks.

“The last thing we would want to do is just have a CEO pocket the money and just say ‘Thanks for the cash,’” Jenne said during a meeting of the House Economic Affairs Committee .

“Quite frankly, depending on the size and scope of the company, their savings and tax breaks might not be enough to bring a new person on,” Costello answered. “But it might be enough to buy a new piece of equipment or do something that injects money back into the economy.”

In a state with 10.7 unemployment rate, Scott chose to kill a high-speed rail project that would’ve created 71,000 jobs, boasted about laying off 15,000 government employees, and plans to reject funds from Obama’s new jobs plan that would create more than 60,000 jobs.

Instead, he champions corporate tax breaks that even his own administration says likely won’t work. We’ve noted before how it is exceedingly unlikely that Scott’s corporate tax cut — particularly his original plan to eliminate the corporate tax entirely — would create any jobs.

Asked point blank whether Scott is “backtracking” from his promise to create at least 700,000 jobs, Costello admitted, “it’s a very difficult question.” Given his policy choices, the answer actually seems pretty obvious.

Perry Claims Federal Stimulus ‘Didn’t Create Any Jobs,’ Ignoring The 50,000 It Created In Texas

By Marie Diamond and Travis Waldron/Think Progress

New GOP presidential contender Gov. Rick Perry (TX) continues to get a free pass from the press for his stimulus hypocrisy on the campaign trail. Last week the governor claimed that the Recovery Act signed by President Obama had “failed” — conveniently forgetting that he accepted more stimulus money than any other state besides California, and used the funds to close 97 percent of Texas’ massive budget deficit.

The Houston Chronicle reported that as of July 2010, federal stimulus funds created or saved 47,700 jobs in the Lone Star State. Yet today during a question-and-answer session in Pembroke, New Hampshire, Perry once again feigned ignorance of the indispenable benefits his state received from stimulus money. In fact, he claimed that the stimulus “didn’t create any jobs, as far as I can tell”:

QUESTION: If the stimulus plan didn’t work, then what do you think would help for unemployment?

PERRY: He asked, “If the stimulus didn’t work” – and the stimulus did not work, obviously all it did was create more debt in this country. It didn’t create any jobs, as far as I can tell, except for maybe those federal regulators that were increased.

Watch it:

So far, Texas has used $17.4 billion in federal stimulus money to keep schools open, ensure Medicaid coverage for children, and put more people to work on infrastructure projects. About half of that was spent on “shovel ready” projects — “things we would not have done with our own money,” says a senior budget analyst for the Center for Public Policy Priorities. Texas benefited disproportionately from the stimulus, using it to balance its budget two years in a row.

Ironically, Perry once aggressively pursued the federal aid he now denounces to pander to the far-right base. According to Time Magazine, in 2003, “lobbyists under Perry’s direction went to Capitol Hill to lobby the Republican Congress for more than a billion dollars” in stimulus-type funds. Over several years this lobbying campaign won funds for programs “Perry now says he opposes as fiscally irresponsible intrusions on state responsibilities.”

Texas received $4.3 billion in stimulus funds for Medicaid and $3.25 billion for public education. Without the generosity of the federal government Perry now decries, Texas would have had tolay off 565 caseworkers who investigate child abuse. Stimulus-funded child care and job training programs would also have ended. In short, Texans would have been much harder hit by the recession if the Recovery Act hadn’t been there to cushion the blow.

New MDP Video: Governor Snyder, Where Are the Jobs You Promised?

From the Michigan Democratic Party:

LANSING – The Michigan Democratic Party today released a new video, “Governor Snyder, Where Are the Jobs You Promised?” The video highlights policies and programs that Governor Snyder has implemented in his first six months – none of which has created a single job.

“Governor Snyder billed himself as a jobs creator but he is nothing more than a jobs killer,” MDP Chair Mark Brewer said. “Snyder has cost Michigan thousands of jobs in the past six months. Whether it’s slashing film credits, eliminating alternative energy credits, or passing a budget that eliminates jobs through cuts to public education and public safety, Governor Snyder is costing us jobs.”

“Where are the jobs you promised, Governor?” asked Brewer. “We need policies that will help to create jobs in this state, not eliminate them. It’s time for Snyder to step up to the plate and get our economy back on track. So far we’ve heard nothing but empty rhetoric with no action to back it up.”

You can watch the new video by clicking the link below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnT8bMBmHNc

After Congressional Progressives Ask ‘Where Are The Jobs?,’ GOP Rep. Biggert Says ‘Stop Talking About Jobs’

By Zaid Jilani

One of the mantras of congressional Republicans over the past two years has been to ask, “Where are the jobs?” House GOP leader John Boehner (OH) made this into atheme of the campaign last fall. As then-GOP chairman Michael Steele summarized the argument: “Americans are still asking, ‘Where are the jobs?’ … Washington Democrats still have no answers.”

This afternoon, Congressional Progressive Caucus co-chair Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) and other progressives took to the floor of the House of Representatives to turn this question back on their Republican colleagues. Ellison and the others asked where all the jobs-creation legislation was, excoriating their conservative colleagues for focusing on legislation like terminating the HAMP program, which would do nothing to create jobs:

– Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN): “The Republicans’ no-jobs agenda has been exposed, Mr. Chair. The majority has done nothing to create jobs or protect homes. All they do is criticize programs that could use some improvement. Rather, they would get rid of them altogether.”

– Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY): “[The Republicans] have no plans of their own to address the foreclosure crisis that is hurting neighborhoods and disrupting lives throughout their country. Like the jobs bills they said they would have. We have yet to see them.”

– Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX): “Your cities have been impacted positively by the HAMP program. Job growth is picking up. Investing and growing jobs should be the mindset of the American Congress for that’s what we were sent back to Washington to do.”

At one point, Rep. Judy Biggert (R-IL) took to the floor to respond to the progressives. She attacked the HAMP program, urging her colleagues to end it, and signaled that she would oppose progressive amendments to the GOP’s bill for ending the mortgage modification program. Then, she incredulously told her colleagues to stop talking about jobs and focus rather on the substance of the amendments:

BIGGERT: I would urge my colleagues to support — oppose this amendment. And stop talking about jobs, let’s focus on the substance of these amendments.

Watch it:

One would have to wonder what a certain congresswoman who asked at a hearing — on February 25, 2010 — “Where are the jobs?” would think about Biggert’s statement. That congresswoman was Biggert herself. Watch it:

Franken: Republicans ‘Don’t Want People To Get Jobs Before The Election’

By Amanda Terkel Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) fired up progressive activists as the closing speaker at the fifth annual Netroots Nation conference on Saturday evening. He jokingly called the gathering “the most exciting political gathering of the year without guns” and told the gathering to keep fighting and pushing elected officials. A few hours before the event, ThinkProgress sat down with Franken and asked him about the public’s frustration with the Senate’s gridlock. Franken told us that the new Senate will likely take up filibuster reform next year, an effort that he supports. He also discussed the need for other procedural reforms: TP: Is there any other ideas that aren’t being talked about as much that you think would help the Senate be more productive? FRANKEN: Well, I think there are, you know, a lot of this is procedural reform on how you offer amendments, and again, obviously, on cloture, and filibusters, and how many hours you have to have of debate even after cloture. One easy idea is, you have to wait 30 hours after a cloture vote to vote, because there’s supposedly 30 hours of debate. Well, sometimes they’ve had cloture votes where it’s — we’ve had to vote cloture on something that isn’t controversial at all, like a nominee who ends up passing 98-nothing. There’s no debate over the next 30 hours. So, you could say, I mean, one easy reform would be, say, either side or both sides can give up 15 hours. So, instead of it being 30 hours, it’s 15 hours. I mean, a lot of all of this was just to slow-foot, to slow things down. In a clear example of Republicans trying to “slow things down,” the Washington Post notes today that the Senate GOP — along with a few conservative Democrats — “have blocked measures that would offer summer jobs to teenagers, give aid to states to prevent layoffs of teachers and other state employees, and expand funding of Pell grants — arguing that all would raise the budget deficit.” Franken attributed their obstruction to crass partisan motives: And Republicans sort of take this stance that the best thing we can do is slow everything down so as little can happen as possible, so that we can both blame Democrats for not having stuff happen, like jobs bills and stuff like that. And so that, you know, I mean sometimes it’d be a legitimate difference of opinion on something, but sometimes it’s been ridiculous. But I do think that this whole approach of slowing everything down, in many ways I think it’s so that, they don’t want a jobs bill because they don’t want people to get jobs before the election. It’s a harsh thing to say, and I don’t want to impugn the motives of my colleagues, but I don’t get what they’re doing otherwise. Watch it: Franken has had experience with the filibuster dating back to before he was even seated as a U.S. senator. As Republicans attempted to drag out the recount process in Minnesota (even though it became clear that Franken was the winner of the election), the GOP promised to filibuster any attempt to seat Franken early. Transcript: TP: There’s a lot of frustration, especially at Netroots, that the Senate is gridlocked and can’t get anything done. You know, I think obviously some people think that if one party were in power more would get done, but do you think that the Senate – FRANKEN: If what? TP: Sorry — if one party had more of a majority, things would get done. FRANKEN: Yeah, if we had more than 60, yeah. TP: Right. But, do you think that there is some fundamental institutional change that needs to be done, such as filibuster reform? FRANKEN: I think we’re going to be looking very closely at filibuster reform. I think there will be, it’s just, I’m not sure exactly what form it’ll take. But I think there will be reform, and it’ll have to happen, I think, at that point when the new Senate comes in. TP: Is that something that you would back? FRANKEN: Yeah. I just have to see what the different proposals are, but sure. TP: Is there any other ideas that aren’t being talked about as much that you think would help the Senate be more productive? FRANKEN: Well, I think there are, you know, a lot of this is procedural reform on how you offer amendments, and again, obviously, on cloture, and filibusters, and how many hours you have to have of debate even after cloture. One easy idea is, you have to wait 30 hours after a cloture vote to vote, because there’s supposedly 30 hours of debate. Well, sometimes they’ve had cloture votes where it’s — we’ve had to vote cloture on something that isn’t controversial at all, like a nominee who ends up passing 98-nothing. There’s no debate over the next 30 hours. So, you could say, I mean, one easy reform would be, say, either side or both sides can give up 15 hours. So, instead of it being 30 hours, it’s 15 hours. I mean, a lot of all of this was just to slow-foot, to slow things down. And Republicans sort of take this stance that the best thing we can do is slow everything down so as little can happen as possible, so that we can both blame Democrats for not having stuff happen, like jobs bills and stuff like that. And so that, you know, I mean sometimes it’d be a legitimate difference of opinion on something, but sometimes it’s been ridiculous. But I do think that this whole approach of slowing everything down, in many ways I think it’s so that, they don’t want a jobs bill because they don’t want people to get jobs before the election. It’s a harsh thing to say, and I don’t want to impugn the motives of my colleagues, but I don’t get what they’re doing otherwise.

Latest Jobs Report Refutes Republican Claim That Stimulus Created Only Government Jobs

By Pat Garofalo Today, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that the U.S. economy added a better than expected 290,000 jobs last month. The BLS also revised the

jobs number for both February and March upwards, putting both of those months into the black in terms of job creation. (Due to 805,00 discouraged workers “feeling better about their prospects” and resuming their search for work, the unemployment rate actually ticked up to 9.9 percent.)

The continued turnaround of the labor market is a strong sign that the economic stimulus package passed last year is doing what it is supposed to. But today’s report also refutes one of the favorite Republican talking points about the stimulus, which is that it only preserved government jobs:

– Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-MN): These are mostly government jobs, you know…The idea that government grows the economy when all they really do is extract money from taxpayers, bring it into the bureaucracy and put it back out into the economy on a political agenda is not growth.

– Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY): The stimulus bill has done “little or nothing” to stimulate the private sector. “It probably did save a lot of state government jobs.”

– Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS): State government has benefited by the stimulus package, because it’s poured in billions of dollars. The problem is we need private sector jobs.

– Rep. John Boehner (R-OH): Most of the so-called jobs that have been saved or created are government jobs, even though the President promised that 90 percent of these jobs would be private sector jobs.

– Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA): We’ve got to begin focusing not just on jobs, but on private sector jobs.

So the GOP should be pleased to note that, of the 290,000 jobs created in April, 231,000 of them were in the private sector. The private sector has actually added 523,000 new jobs in 2010.

his includes 44,000 manufacturing jobs, which is the most manufacturing jobs added to the U.S. economy since August, 1998. Overall, April was the strongest month for jobs growth since March, 2006. For the sake of comparison, here’s the change in monthly job loss or gain since December, 2007: