Don'tcha just hate it when you have to keep correcting your conservative Facebook friends who always seem to get the facts wrong?
After today's Jobs Report showing that private employment rose by yet another 120K last month, thus raising the total private employement about 4M over the past two years, I got the message from a Faux News victim viewer friend of mine that the only reason there are 4M new jobs was "because 3.99 million jobs were created by the governement getting bigger. They are all government jobs that we are going to have to cut to balance the budget when the new president gets elected."
Naturally, I could not let this mistake stand, so over the fold is how I corrected it:
"Oh, (my redacted friend)... There you go again.
Would you please stop relying on Faux News and talk radio for your information? I'm tired of having to keep proving you wrong in public.
Government Employee Facts:
The total number of government employees has fallen on President Obama's watch from about 22.6M to about 22.0M. In other words, there are actually about 600,000 fewer government employees now than there were when our current president was inaugurated. That is about -200,000 fewer government employees per year.
Whereas, the total number of government employees rose on President Bush's watch from about 20.8M to about 22.6M. In other words, there were actually about 1,800,000 more government employees than there were when our past president was inaugurated. That is about +225,000 more government employees per year.
Private Employee Facts:
The total number of private employees has been flat on President Obama's watch from about 110,900,000 to a low of about 106,900,000 and back up again to about 110,900,000. (Thank Allah for the Obama stimulus plan, huh?) In other words, there are actually about the same number of private employees now as there were when our current president was inaugurated. Not bad for a community organizer.
Whereas, the total number of private employees fell on President Bush's watch from about 111,700,000 to about 110,900,000. In other words, there were actually about 800,000 fewer private employees than there were when our past president was inaugurated. That is about -100,000 fewer private employees per year on the watch of our first "MBA President" (as he liked to brag about).
Clearly, having business experience is NOT a sure bet to make a president good at the job.
Oh, and that spike in government employment in early 2010 was the temporary census hiring that happens every decade no matter who is in the White House, and ALL the various measures of unemployment improved last month, both seasonally-adjusted and NON-seasonally adjusted. The official UNemployment Rate (U-3) is now down to 8.2%, and the UNDERemployment Rate (U-6) is down to 14.5%. Still not good, but ALL are getting better. (DATA)"
I hate having to do all this over and over and over again... but the good of the republic is worth the trouble, don'tch think?