1.9 Million Jobs Lost Under Obama—No Matter How You Slice it

From John Kartch on Monday, May 11, 2009 4:09 PM

The White House's invention of new metrics such as “saved” jobs and “job-year” doesn't pass the laugh test.

The U.S. has lost at least 1.9 million jobs since President Barack Obama took office. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the total number of jobs nationwide fell from 134.3 million at the end of January to 132.4 million at the end of April.

Meanwhile, Obama and his economic advisors have resorted to the invention of highly questionable new metrics such as the number of “saved” jobs and – making its debut today -- the number of “job-years” created.

The concept of a “saved” job was best debunked by Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), the Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. On March 4, while testifying before the Committee, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner was challenged by Baucus as follows:

SEN: MAX BAUCUS: "You created a situation where you cannot be wrong. If the economy loses 2 million jobs over the next few years, you can say yes, but it would've lost 5.5 million jobs. If we create a million jobs, you can say, well, it would have lost 2.5 million jobs. You've given yourself complete leverage where you cannot be wrong, because you can take any scenario and make yourself look correct."

BLS data show 651,000 jobs were lost in February; 663,000 jobs were lost in March; and 539,000 jobs were lost in April. The unemployment rate stands at 8.9 percent, up from 7.6 percent at the end of January.

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1.9 Million Jobs Lost Under Obama—No Matter How You Slice it

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