What Recovery Summer?

J.D. Foster / August 06, 2010

The Obama Administration announced “Recovery Summer” in June to highlight the expected gains in jobs and economic strength resulting from Obama’s stimulus.. Well, maybe next summer.

Initial estimates from the Department of Labor (DOL) suggest the economy shed a whopping 131,000 jobs in July while employment for the prior two months was revised down by 97,000 jobs. The unemployment rate held steady in August at 9.5 percent despite a drop in employment, because the number of people in the workforce also declined as workers appear to be giving up in the face of persistent high unemployment.

To an important extent, the wild swings in employment in recent months are due to the decennial census that led to a steady but temporary rise in government employment, a spike upward in government employment in April, and now two consecutive months of downward plunges, resulting in 454,000 fewer government jobs. In the private sector, job growth increased smartly in April and May but has since dropped to a very anemic three-month average growth rate of about 51,000 jobs.

This data confirms once again that the $862 billion Obama stimulus legislation—as well as all the subsequent budget-busting legislation Congress has enacted under the rubric of “jobs” bills—has failed, as expected. (more…)