One picture tells a story. It's from the start of 2008 to today.
Voters will be turning out in a month and will send the country forward – or turn it back.
For the seven years before the recession, job growth was tepid and family income was stagnant when economic times were called "good." Unbridled financial excess toppled the economy by 2008, and hundreds of thousands of positions in each month of that year "terminated", or got moved offshore.
The figures, shown in thousands, are tracked monthly by the U.S. Dept. of Labor.
To see the month by month detail, you can access the payrolls numbers at the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. (Can select the data series at the link for "Total Private Sector," seasonally adjusted). The data can be exported to excel for calculations etc. The figures for the private sector don't have the whipsaw effect of the Census buildup and drawdown that was caused by the once-in-ten-year count of citizens mandated by law.
Here's the full-size image of the downturn and upturn.
Which way will the country move?
Cross posted also at politicalcortex site, please go visit.
Also I see CNN published Monday a report that Manufacturing jobs are increasing 2x as fast as the rest of the private sector. A strong rebound in the goods producing sector - and those are our higher paying jobs.
Exports climbed to a 2-year high in the last reporting period, and manufacturing jobs are strongly tied in to that, so it makes sense.