More jobs added to the U.S economy in January, more people making more money.
U.S. employers added a vigorous 257,000 jobs in January, and wages jumped by the most in six years — evidence that the job market is accelerating closer to full health
The surprisingly robust report the government issued Friday also showed that hiring was far stronger in November and December than it had previously estimated. Employers added 414,000 jobs in November — the most in 17 years. Job growth in December was revised sharply up to 329,000 from 252,000.
Average hourly wages soared 12 cents in January to $24.75, the sharpest gain since 2008. Over the past 12 months, hourly pay, which has long been stagnant, has now risen 2.2 percent. That is ahead of inflation, which rose just 0.7 percent in 2014.
The unemployment rate last month rose to 5.7 percent from 5.6 percent. But that occurred for a good reason: More than 1 million Americans — the most since January 2000 — began looking for jobs, though not all of them found work, and their numbers swelled the number of people counted as unemployed. An influx of job hunters suggests that Americans have grown more confident about their prospects.
President Obama said he took action this week to launch new manufacturing hubs and expand a competition to fund transformative infrastructure projects. Both are policies aimed at expanding economic opportunity for all by creating jobs and ensuring the long-term strength of the American economy. Congress can boost this effort by passing a bipartisan proposal to create a nationwide network of high-tech manufacturing hubs and taking steps to invest in our nation’s infrastructure.
Mitt Romney sat down with CNBC’s Larry Kudlow, and made a curious observation. He said voters who want a strong economy should vote for him, but Americans “ought to give, whichever president is going to be elected, at least six months or a year to get those policies in place.”
At first blush, that may sound fairly reasonable. A president takes office, he or she needs time to put a team in place, craft an agenda, and get to work. What’s more, we generally don’t see the results of economic policies immediately; the agenda needs time to take effect. In Romney’s mind, six months to a year seems fair.
But let’s go ahead and apply this standard to President Obama, who took office in the midst of the worst global economic catastrophe since the Great Depression. Hey, look, here’s a new chart I put together.
So according to Mittens, President Obama is doing pretty good. Six months after he was sworn into office, almost three million jobs were created. And in February 20, 2010 – one year after the President took office, almost 4 million jobs were created.
Contrast that to George Bush, who spent 8 years in office to see a little over 3 million jobs created.
Appearing on MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Show today, Mitt Romney’s senior campaign adviser said that Mitt Romney created more jobs during his time as Massachusetts Governor, than President Obama created nationwide. Said Eric Fehrnstrom, Romney’s adviser;
“With respect to Mitt Romney’s period of time as the governor of Massachusetts — in that four years as governor he created between 30k and 40k jobs. That is more than President Obama has created for the entire nation. And at Bain Capital, of course the mission was to create value, that’s how the free enterprise system works, but when you create value, when you add value as they did in trying to improve companies, you also add employment, and a rough back-of-the-envelope estimate of how many jobs they created is well in excess of 100,000.”
The Hill is reporting that “Romney made a similar claim early in the Republican primary season, but seemed to walk the number down after it was challenged by his GOP presidential rivals. At later points during the cycle, Romney has said he created “tens of thousands” or “thousands” of jobs.
The Romney campaign has not detailed the method it’s using to come to these estimates, but critics say Romney is taking credit for jobs created after his tenure, not subtracting out jobs that were eliminated after his tenure, or taking credit for business deals that he had little to do with.”
But here are some figures everyone can understand, everyone that is, except Mitt Romney and his coons. CNN took a look at just one of President Obama’s policy initiative – the original Stimulus. The report found that:
The stimulus bill passed by Democrats in 2009 with almost universal Republican criticism was split into three parts: Just over $200 billion in tax cuts, about $300 billion in direct spending on projects and other aid to states, and just under $300 billion in social safety-net spending through items such as extended unemployment benefits and health insurance subsidies.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that the parts of the program that got the most criticism — actual spending on projects and aid packages — was the most effective in creating jobs.
Tax cuts for middle income workers were less effective while tax cuts for the wealthy were deemed the least effective.
Still, the CBO estimates that at least 1.4 million jobs were created and saved by the direct spending alone, and that as many as 3.6 million jobs were produced while stimulus funds were being spent.
And that’s just on the Stimulus. Not being counted in this 3.6 million figure are the jobs created or saved from the auto bailout, or the jobs gained from the 17 different tax cuts the president signed for small businesses. Compare 3.6 million jobs created by the Obama Administration to the “30 to 40 thousand” created by Romney. Anyone with common sense and the most basic knowledge of Math knows which figure is higher. Romney and his surrogates however, are content in preaching to their base.
If Republicans do the right thing and work with the President to get the economy going again through job creation, expect to see at least 400,000 education jobs saved or created because of the President’s $447 billion jobs bill.
According to a report from Reuters, the bill contains “$30 billion for state and local efforts to retain, rehire and hire educators, supporting 392,400 jobs, according to projections released by the Education Department and White House Council of Economic Advisers.”
Sounds like a good plan. It is exactly what we need in an economy where job creation is on the back burner of a do-nothing congress. If upwards of 392,400 education jobs are kept or created in this economy, consider it an asset for our kid’s future and beneficial to the economy as more people with jobs translate to more investments into the economy.
But don’t expect to see that happening anytime soon… if ever!
With a Republican controlled House of Representative already deciding that winning the next election is their top priority, doing anything to help the economy will not play into their game-plan. So expect educators to be laid off, expect an uncertain future for our children, thus, an uncertain future for this nation’s economy that will just keep creeping along… hopefully!
Seems that the Republican’s game-plan is in full effect, and it is working just fine thank you!
I have to admit, these days I’m looking for a reason to re-elect our incumbent president in 2012. I can no longer hide my disappointment at his not taking the wheel and steering this sinking ship over to more shallow waters. Why fight so hard and valiantly to become the first African-American president of – what we’re told – is the most rich, the most powerful, the most influential nation in the world only to constantly cave-in with a whimper once confronted with your opposition’s…opposition?
And Mr. President – with all due respect – f**k those bi-partisan pipe dreams! Groveling is not a good look for my president. The public no longer needs that to be one of your goals any longer, anyway. And if another of your actual goals is to appear stymied in making any real, substantial policy changes because those mean old republicans keep bullying you and taking your lunch money… well, again, not a good look.
You’re on the stump now across the country campaigning on those grounds and its sounds more like you’re looking for pity rather than re-appointment. The thing with trying to appear as ” the adult in the room”, is that you get loads of obstinacy when the adolescents in the room with you, have no respect for your authority in the first place. However, that mustn’t stop you from laying down the law. It never stopped my Mom, a single mother of five big-ass kids.
If you’d just concern yourself with blowing your own horn on all you’ve accomplished thus far; Bin Laden, a great start to a future of healthcare reform, being stalwart against the GOP on their insistence to not raise the debt ceiling and their personal vendetta against Social Security and Medicare, a successful auto industry bailout, aggressive moderator to the conflicts in the Middle East, International Kumbayah Ambassador… look, you don’t need me to tell you what you’ve done.
If your true agenda is to be the beacon of ‘Change’, as you touted yourself to be and – we went for – back in your glory days in 2007, you’d better go for it now, with no damn regrets. Don’t give credence to my naysayer associates on Facebook who say you’re a pawn for someone else’s political agenda (ie: Robert Redford’s Bill McKay in The Candidate (1972), remember?).
Hopefully your initiative to present a master plan for (what I wish to be!) an actual Jobs Bill (wouldn’t that be grand!) that could realistically be implemented ASAP – despite the expected stonewalling from the party on the right – will jumpstart your mojo with a “TOUCHDOWN!” tonight.
Either Rick Perry is a liar, or he just doesn’t know the residents of his state that well.
The Texas governor recently announced his intention to run for the Republican nomination to take on Barack Obama in the 2012 Presidential elections, and he often quotes his “success” in Texas as his main qualification for president. But if this new report is true, the question begs to be asked – why exactly are Texas residents the second hungriest folks in the nation?
Yes, despite Perry’s claims that Texas has the best economy in the nation, and despite his claims that his state produced more jobs than any other state, why are the people wanting for something as basic as food?
An estimated 85.5 percent of American households were food secure throughout the entire year in 2010, meaning that they had access at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members. The remaining households (14.5 percent) were food insecure at least some time during the year, including 5.4 percent with very low food security—meaning that the food intake of one or more household members was reduced and their eating patterns were disrupted at times during the year because the household lacked money and other resources for food.
So where do Texans falls? Well in 2010, under the auspicious leadership of Mr. Perry, 18.8% of residents reported not having enough food at some point during the year. That number was only second to Mississippi’s 19.4% who made the same claim.
This report shows the emptiness of Perry’s job creation claim. Although data shows that 4 out of every 10 jobs recently created in the nation came from Texas, something is drastically wrong if the citizens of your state still can’t afford to buy food. But there is no surprise here. Although Perry’s claim is partly correct, the fact remains the same – Texas leads the nation in minimum wage jobs.
Texas has more people earning the federal minimum wage or less than any other state and is tied with Mississippi for the highest percentage of minimum-wage workers. New York follows Texas and Mississippi by three percentage points.
The Republican spectacle was on full view for all to see. In a rare turn of events, it was amusing to watch this “family” turn on each other – although for a moment – for the very same issues they criticize the Obama Administration for… in this case, job creation.
Even though this particular family feud did not end up with the usual blood-letting at most thanksgiving dinner tables, any outside observer could surely see some interesting low blows being hauled by the two favorite uncles.
Eyewitness this most rare event, as this might be your last chance to see Republican on Republican.
Joe Walsh – remember him? He’s the Teaparty Republican who prides himself on how conservative he is. So conservative in fact, that his own family is taking him to court for child support.
Well Joe has decided that hearing the President of the United States give another address is not something he wants to partake in. The United States congressman has decided to boycott Mr. Obama’s speech next Thursday.
“I don’t see the point of being a prop for another of the president’s speeches asking for more failed stimulus spending and more subsidies for his pet projects.
“The president needs to stop the speeches, get out of his office and away from all the White House academics and start talking to real people out there. They’re the ones who are going to create the jobs, not White House paper-pushers and bureaucrats.”
It’s amazing how just about a month ago, the Republican talking point was, “where is the President’s plan?” Now that the President is asking all elected officials to come to the table and work on behalf of the people who elected them, Joe Nelson and his kind don’t want to anything to do with it. They apparently have better things to do. Nelson, a member on the Small Business Committee is planning a meeting with that group instead, which is equivalent to him spending the afternoon clipping his toenails, as no job policy decisions are expected from his get-together.
Meanwhile, the American people wait for some form of cooperation from their elected leaders. Instead, all we get is showmanship and childish political games.
We’ve all heard Mitt Romney’s claim that while he was governor of Massachusetts, he was known as a ‘job creator’. Well, that’s Romney’s claim, but it’s simply not the facts. The DNC has put together a little video shedding some light on Romney’s boast. The fact is, that out of all 50 states, Romney’s economic policies came in at number 47th in job creation.
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