Tea partiers might want to rethink
their freakout after reviewing these
numbers (Ns0mniak/Dreamstime.com)
Local and state governments axed more than 200,000 jobs in 2010, according to U.S. Census data released on Tuesday that showed the growing threat of public employee layoffs to the economic recovery.
Overall, more than one million jobs were created in 2010, so despite the big Republican freakout about socialism coming to America, government employment went down while private employment went up.
To get a full appreciation of just how disconnected from reality Republicans are on this stuff, check out these numbers:
- When Bill Clinton took office, 70.7% of the civilian labor force worked in the private sector. When he left office, 77.6% did. Net change: +6.9%.
- When George W. Bush took office, 77.6% of the civilian labor force worked in the private sector. When he left office, 72.0% did. Net change: -5.6%.
- When Barack Obama took office, 72.0% of the civilian labor force worked int he private sector. At the end of his first year in office, 69.6% did. Now, 71.2% do. Net change since 1/2010: +0.8%.
So private sector employment soared under Bill Clinton, crashed under George W. Bush, a crash that carried over into the beginning of the Obama presidency but is finally turning around. Meanwhile:
- When Bill Clinton took office, 14.7% of the civilian labor force worked in the public sector. When he left office, 14.5% did. Net change: -0.2%.
- When George W. Bush took office, 14.5% of the civilian labor force worked in the public sector. When he left office, 14.6% did. Net change: +0.1%.
- When Barack Obama took office, 14.6% of the civilian labor force worked int he public sector. Now, 14.4% do. Net change: -0.2%.
So under Clinton and Obama, public sector employment actually fell ... while under George W. Bush, it grew.
Of course, the moral of the story here isn't that George W. Bush is a socialist while Bill Clinton and Barack Obama are capitalists. The moral of the story is that everyone does better under the Democratic approach to the economy. And everyone does worse under the Republican approach.
