Facts About Jobs - Before and Since Obama

UPDATE: The chart below has been updated to reflect Bureau of Labor stats thru September 2012. Click here for the revised chart.



This graph is the simplest and most honest representation I have seen of the employment environment that President Obama "inherited" and the results accomplished since he took office.

Viewing Tip: Clicking on the chart should open a larger easier-to-read version.

The two stories told by this chart are readily apparent.

1. By the time Bush left office, job creation (or job elimination more correctly) was trending increasingly negative each month. In the first year of Obama, results steadily improved, and in the almost two years since then, we have enjoyed positive job growth in 17 of the last 21 months.
2. The unemployment rate peaked at the end of Obama's first year, and since then has shown steady improvement.

Each of us is free to "feel" however we want about the Obama presidency, but these are the facts as reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The only rational way to interpret these facts is to recognize that Barack Obama inherited an employment scenario that was in a total tailspin, and that just a few months into his presidency, a jobs recovery began that continues today. Maybe the turnaround hasn't happened at the speed with which we all hoped it would (and I would submit that maybe our expectations were unrealistic), but the trend on Obama's watch has been consistently and undeniably positive.

Print this one out and take it to your cocktail parties. There is no disputing the facts.


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