It's all good, just keep changing the way the numbers are caculated. What a scam! And then they wonder why the people are so pissed. Actual number is 10.6% unemployed without the new benchmark and 18% plus counting those down and outers than have thrown in the towel. However, I won't blame Obama as some would do. He's just continuing the same voodoo counting method that's been going on for nearly 3 decades. So cheer up people, things are looking up, and with 1.2 million census workers coming to the ranks this year we can expect all kinds of jobs to be "saved or created".
I ran across this interesting graph of job losses by month and president: <img src="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/images/docpage-recoverystats1.jpg"> </img>
Because it has a citation at the bottom citing the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and they have a table here: http://data.bls.gov/PDQ/servlet/SurveyOutputServlet?series_id=CES0000000001&output_view=net_1mth
Pelosi: Where Are the Jobs, Mr. President? August 1, 2003 Washington, D.C. -- House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi released the following statement today on the Bureau of Labor Statistics' announcement that 470,000 people abandoned their job searches in July and that 3.2 million private sector jobs have been lost since President Bush took office: âThe fact is that President Bushâs misguided economic policies have failed to create jobs. Since President Bush took office, the country has lost 3.2 million jobs, the worst record since President Hoover. And today we learned that in July nearly half a million people gave up looking for a job. âJob losses are taking a real toll on the financial security of American families. While Democrats are fighting for opportunity, jobs, and economic security for working families, Republicans continue to focus on helping those who need help the least. âAccording to todayâs survey, while the national unemployment rate dropped slightly, it still stands at a near record high. In addition, the unemployment rate for African Americans was still over 11 percent in July, and the unemployment rate for Hispanics was 8.2 percent in July. âIt is time for President Bush and the Republicans to get to work for all Americans, not just the elite few.â
Yes, Bush was president for eight years. If you add up the annualized numbers (even counting the weak economy after the Clinton growth/bubble) and even picking the smallest gain (2001) the economy went from 1.7 million jobs lost in 2001 to 3.6 million jobs lost in 2008.