JOBS REPORT: Over 10 Million Jobs Created in the Private Sector Since Obamacare Passed (CHARTS)

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday October 03, 2014 · 5:47 AM PDT

2014/10/03 · 05:47

"It will bankrupt our nation, and it will ruin our economy! ... This health care law ... is already destroying jobs in our country."
- John Boehner, January 2011
"We now know that Obamacare has been one of the single biggest drags on job creation since early 2010."
- Mitch McConnell, March 2012

"Obamacare is a job killing disaster."
- Rand Paul, August 2014

"We thought there would be ... job loss, and that has, in fact, occurred."
- Mitch McConnell, August 2014

In fact, Senator McConnell, just the opposite has occurred:

Chart: After losing 3.6 million jobs in the decade before Obamacare, the private-sector has gained 10.2 million jobs since Obamacare became law.

Most of the attention surrounding today's jobs report will focus on the news that 248,000 jobs were created in September. But the more important aspect of today's report is its confirmation of a four-and-a-half year trend that has seen American jobs coming back from the devastation of the Great Recession.

To use Sen. McConnell's words, what we "now know" is that American businesses have added more than 10 million jobs since Obamacare was enacted in "early 2010." This represents a dramatic turnaround from the 3.6 million private-sector jobs lost in the previous decade as a result of the economic policies of the Republican Party (a party that Senator McConnell describes, without a hint of irony, as "the party of the private sector").

Today's news comes on the heels of a report out of Kentucky by the Lexington Herald-Leader using state-level data to debunk Sen. McConnell's claims about Obamacare killing jobs:

Economists Reject Republicans' Claims that Health Law is Decimating Kentucky Jobs
Politically, the frequently repeated claim might be effective.... Factually, the claim doesn't appear to be accurate. Kentucky had 26,271 more people working last month than it did in March 2010 when President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The state's unemployment rate in that same period fell from 10.5 percent to 7.1 percent.

Manoj Shanker, an economist at the Kentucky Office of Employment and Training, said the health care law "is expected to be a net gain for the economy."

"It is definitely expected to create jobs, and not just for doctors and nurses," Shanker said.

Against that background, consider the following statement by Sen. McConnell:

"The November 2014 election is very likely to be a referendum on Obamacare."
- Mitch McConnell

In the final month of the 2014 campaign, Democrats should embrace -- not run from -- Senator McConnell's framing of the election. For years, Republicans in Congress have been telling the American people that Obamacare will kill jobs, hurt Medicare, and blow up the deficit. They were wrong on all three counts, and now is the time to set the record straight.

Count 1:

"Obamacare is the most destructive, failed law in modern times. It's the biggest job killer in this country."
- Ted Cruz, July 2014:
"Obamacare is a disaster for jobs"
- John Boehner, September 2014

One more time, no:

Chart: After losing nearly 800,000 jobs per month during the depths of the Great Recession, the private sector has created jobs every month under Obamacare, including an average over 200,000 jobs in the past year.

But, but ...

"We now have a record number of part-time employees largely because of Obamacare."
- Mitch McConnell, December 2013
"ObamaCare is part of the reason the number of 'involuntary part-time workers' has increased 66%."
- RNC Chair Reince Priebus, August 2014

"Millions of Americans ... have been forced into part-time employment.”
- Ted Cruz, August 2014

Again, the facts beg to disagree.

Since Obamacare was enacted, the number of involuntary part-time workers has actually fallen from 9.2 million to 7.1 million.

But, but ...

Recovery from the recession of 2008 has been the slowest since World War II, McConnell said.
-July 2014

This favorite Republican talking point attempts to pull a fast one by leaving out three critical facts: (1) the Great Recession of 2007-2009 was the only post-World War II recession in the United States resulting from a financial crisis, (2) "financial crises are typically followed by deep recessions, and these recessions are followed by slow, disappointing recoveries" (more here, here, here, here, and here) and (3) the current recovery has actually been stronger than recoveries from other financial crises:

While this is the longest post WWII recovery the U.S. has experienced — by a good margin — it is important to keep in mind that financial crises are different. When comparing the Great Recession against other advanced economies’ financial crises in recent decades, the current U.S. cycle has outperformed in terms of employment

And as Bill McBride at Calculated Risk has pointed out:

[T]his recovery was during a period of declining participation - partially due to demographics - and that makes this milestone [matching the pre-recession employment peak faster than after other financial crises] even better.

Count 2:

"The greatest threat to Medicare is Obamacare, and we’re going to stop it."
- Paul Ryan, August 2012

Actually, Congressman Ryan, Obamacare has strengthened Medicare by helping to extend the life of the trust fund by 13 years:

Good News For Boomers: Medicare’s Hospital Trust Fund Appears Flush Until 2030
Medicare’s Hospital Insurance Trust Fund, which finances about half the health program for seniors and the disabled, won’t run out of money until 2030, the program’s trustees said Monday. That’s four years later than projected last year and 13 years later than projected the year before the passage of the Affordable Care Act.

Chart: Life of Medicare trust fund extended 13 years since 2009.

Count 3:

Obamacare will "blow a hole through the deficit."
- Paul Ryan, June 2012

Again, Congressman Ryan, not exactly:

Chart: Deficit drops from 9.8% of GDP before Obamacare to 2.9% of GDP in 2014

Charts archived at America's Comeback Decade
Twitter friendly charts available here

This content was created by a Daily Kos Community member.

Make YOUR voice heard!

JOBS REPORT: Over 10 Million Jobs Created in the Private Sector Since Obamacare Passed (CHARTS)

Comments are closed on this story.