Chart of the Week: Slow Job Growth Means a Slow Economic Recovery

Rob Bluey / January 22, 2012

President Obama will deliver his third State of the Union address on Tuesday night. According to a preview video released this weekend, the speech will outline Obama’s vision for improving the economy and creating jobs.

With an unemployment rate of 8.5 percent, there’s much work to be done. But after three years of Obama’s failed policies, it’s unclear if anything Obama says Tuesday night will differ from the Keynesian ideas he’s already proposed.

This week’s chart comes from Heritage’s analysis of the December unemployment report. The economy added 200,000 jobs last month. But even at that rate, it would take nearly five more years for the unemployment to return to around 5 percent.