Private & Government Jobs Gained & Lost Under Obama (April 2013 update)

How many jobs (total, private, and government) have been lost or gained since Obama was inaugurated? 

• 4,311,000 TOTAL jobs (in seasonally adjusted numbers) were LOST in from the time Obama took office until the "trough" of the recession in early 2010.  That's a decrease of 3.2%.    
• 6,154,000 jobs (in seasonally adjusted numbers) were CREATED from the "trough" of the recession until now, April 2013.  That's an increase of 4.8%.
• In total, 1,843,000  jobs (in seasonally adjusted numbers) were ADDED from the time Obama took office until now, April 2013.  That's an increase of 1.4%.
• We have experienced 31 months WITHOUT job losses since September 2010.  We have ADDED 5,543,000 jobs during those 31 months. 
• We now have 135,474,000 TOTAL non-farm jobs. 

*  These are all net figures, meaning that they represent the total number of jobs at the end of a reporting period.  All losses have been subtracted from all gains and vice verse.

*  For the purposes of comparison, jobs are being added at a faster clip under Obama than under George Bush at the same time in his presidency.  At this point in Bush's presidency (March 2005), there were only 329,000 MORE jobs than when he was inaugurated in January 2001 compared to 1,564,000 MORE for Obama.   (This will be updated for April 2013 in the next few days.)

How Many Jobs Lost or Added Under Obama? (April 2013 update)

Labor Force Participation: Separating the Truth From Lies

All April reports published so far today are indexed HERE! 

How many PRIVATE sector jobs have been lost or gained since Obama was inaugurated?

• 4,198,000 PRIVATE-sector jobs (in seasonally adjusted numbers) were LOST from the time Obama took office until the "trough" of the recession in early 2010.  That's a decrease of 3.8%.
• 6,780,000 PRIVATE-sector jobs (in seasonally adjusted numbers) were GAINED OR CREATED from the "trough" of the recession until now, April 2013.  That's an increase of 6.3%.
• In total, 2,582,000 private sector jobs (in seasonally adjusted numbers) have been GAINED from the time Obama took office until now, March 2013.  That's a net increase of 2.3%. *
• We have experienced 38 months of positive private-sector job GROWTH from February 2010 until April 2013.  We have added 6,780,000 private-sector jobs during those 38 months.    
• We now have 113,630,000  PRIVATE sector non-farm jobs.

*As of March 2013,  jobs are being added at a faster clip under Obama than under George Bush at the same time in his presidency.  At this point in Bush's presidency (March 2005), there were still 576,000 FEWER private sector jobs than when he was inaugurated in January 2001 compared to 2,282,000 MORE for Obama.  The number of private-sector jobs didn't eclipse the number when Bush was first inaugurated until June 2005, in Bush's second term.  (This will be updated for April in the next few days.)   

How many GOVERNMENT jobs have been lost or gained since Obama was inaugurated?  (Government jobs include federal, state, and local government jobs.)

• 113,000 GOVERNMENT jobs (in seasonally adjusted numbers) were LOST from the time Obama took office until the "trough" of the recession in early 2010.  That's a decrease of  .5%  (about half of a percent). 
• Another 626,000 GOVERNMENT jobs (in seasonally adjusted numbers) were LOST from the "trough" of the recession until now, April 2013.  That's a decrease of 2.7%.    
• In total, 739,000 GOVERNMENT jobs (in seasonally adjusted numbers) were LOST from the time Obama took office until now, April 2013.  That's a decrease of 3.3%.  A large portion of these jobs, at least 350,000, have been lost in the "Local Government - Education" sector. (Teachers.)
• We have experienced decreases in the number of government jobs in 26 out of the last 34 months, starting in June 2010, when the layoff of 2010 Census workers began.  We have experienced declines in the number of government jobs in the last 6 out of the last 7 months.     
• We now have 21,844,000 GOVERNMENT jobs, not including people in the military.  (Civilians employed by the U.S. and working for the military are counted.)

(Note:  Current numbers taken from the April 2013 Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Situation Report.  Historical numbers taken from various archived Employment Situation reports as indexed HERE. Specifics will be provided upon request; please email me or leave a comment.)

An afterthought---

A reader asks:

How Many Private Sector Jobs Were Lost Because of Obama?

We haven't lost ANY private sector jobs (net) since February 2010, a year after Obama took office.  Between January 2009 and February 2010, we lost 4,198,000 private sector jobs as stated above.

Should we "blame" Obama for not being immediately able to stem the tide of private sector job loss in 2009?  If a house is burning out of control and the fire department comes to put out the fire, it continues to burn until it is brought under control and cooled down, right?  Now.. would you blame the fire department for the continued fire and the time to put it out after the firefighters arrive on the scene?

Well, you might, but I wouldn't:  Here's my reasoning:  Burning Down the House!

So my answer to this question would be a big, fat ZERO.  I do NOT feel that Obama is to blame for any loss of jobs between January 2009 and February 2010.  If you think he is, please leave a comment and explain!

All April reports published so far today are indexed HERE!

Weekly Initial Unemployment Claims Jump

Weekly unemployment initial claims increased by 32,000 this week to 360,000.  The increase follows two weeks of initial claims in the 320,000 range AND 3 out of 6 weeks of significant decreases in initial claims.  Weekly claims numbers tend to be volatile and weekly seasonal adjustment factors can also throw the numbers off, so we won't know if this increase is meaningful until we see if it becomes a pattern (or does not become a pattern) over the next few weeks.  (The chart below shows that a significant increase in initial claims at the end of March did not continue.)  

First time unemployment jobless claims increased to 360,000  for the week ending May 11th.   This is a sizable increase of 32,000 claims.  Since the beginning of the year, new weekly claims have remained in the 325,000 to 365,000 range for sixteen out of the past nineteen weeks.  This week's number is an increase after two weeks of claims numbers in the 320,000 range. 

The four-week moving average # of claims increased by 1,250 last week after decreasing by 5,000 the week before.  It is now 399,250.  Initial claims continue now at about the same level that they were five years ago, in late 2007 to early 2008.  

(Even though the weekly initial claims numbers are seasonally adjusted, these numbers are always a bit volatile and should  only be analyzed in terms of a trend over a period of weeks.  See the graph below.) 

For the week ending April 27th, 4,843,806 people were receiving unemployment benefits under one of the programs that are available (regular state, federal extended unemployment compensation, or a few other smaller programs).  This was a decrease of about 31,000  overall claims since the previous week.  Most of the decrease was in the number of continuing claims in the Regular State program (the first 20 to 26 weeks of unemployment benefits), which decreased by 57,747.  Continuing claims in the Federal Extended Unemployment Benefits program (the "Tiers") increased  by about  29,000 claims.

1,429,702 FEWER people are receiving unemployment benefits now vs. one year ago.  We do not know what has happened to the people who are no longer receiving benefits; we do not know how many of those 1,429,702 people found employment, how many retired, etc.  We do know that there are 1,729,000 more people reporting themselves as employed than a year ago and there are  2,094,000 more non-farm jobs.  We also know that a grand total of 51,838,000 hires have been made by employers between April 2012 and March 2013, the latest month for which numbers are available.  (Some people may have been hired more than once during the year, so the number of "hires" is generally higher than the number of people who have been hired.)   

 

The percent of unemployed people receiving benefits increased to about 44.0% for the week ending April 27th.

If you are receiving benefits, you may be interested in these two reports:  

• How Many Weeks of Unemployment Compensation Can I Get?
• Changes In State Eligibility As of mid-April 2013

The chart above is one of the BEST charts for understanding and observing changes in the weekly initial claims numbers over time.  This year (red:  2013) and the past three years (blue:  2010, green:  2011 and black:  2012) are marked in different colors.  You can see that, as a trend, first time claims for unemployment have declined from one year to the next, even though there are variations within the year.  Though the number of initial unemployment claims has been variable over the past three months, it has continued a downward trajectory.  

Be aware that:

1. The graph above shows first time claims, so people who have continued to receive benefits or who have lost unemployment benefits are not counted in these numbers.  
2. They are seasonally adjusted, so most variations caused by weather or holidays are already included in these numbers.  
3. As these are weekly numbers, they are more volatile than the monthly numbers.

What Was the Unemployment Rate When Obama Took Office? (April update)

All Jobs Reports & Numbers Indexed HERE! (2013, 2012, 2011)

From the current report:

In the week ending May 11, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 360,000, an increase of 32,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 328,000. The 4-week moving average was 339,250, an increase of 1,250 from the previous week's revised average of 338,000.

As usual, to put all of this into perspective, check out the red line on the chart above to see where jobless claims are now, in 2013, compared to the past three years.

First time unemployment claims increased by 37,000 over those reported last week.  Last week's initial claims numbers were revised upwards by 5,000.  There are usually slight upwards revisions  (1,000 to 3,000) in the numbers of initial claims in most weeks.  (The chart above shows REVISED claims numbers.)

The initial claims as announced last week were 323,000, so the claims from that week were revised upwards by 5,000 to 328,000. 

Current February/March/April Initial Claims Continue to be the Lowest Since Late 2007/Early 2008.

As a whole, the current numbers of initial claims continue to be the lowest Winter-Spring initial claims numbers since late 2007/early 2008.
  

Continuing regular state claims, from people who are continuing to claim unemployment through the initial 20 to 26 week regular unemployment program, decreased by 4,000 for the week ending May 4th after decreasing by 19,000  the week before.  3,009,000 people filed continuing regular state claims in the week ending May 4th.  As a whole, continuing regular claims continue to decline despite some individual weekly increases.  (There were 3,309,000 continuing claims a year ago.) 

Total number of people receiving unemployment insurance is 44.0% of the officially unemployed for the week ending April 27th.  

The weekly report also tells us the total number of people who are receiving unemployment benefits.  For the week ending April 27th, 4,843,406 people were receiving unemployment benefits under one of the programs that are available (regular state, extended benefits, federal extended unemployment compensation, or a few other smaller programs).  This compares with 11,014,000 people who are unemployed in unadjusted numbers according to the monthly April unemployment situation report which was released Friday, May 3rd.  Those numbers, showing that only 44.0% of the officially unemployed are receiving benefits, should make it clear that people do NOT need to be receiving unemployment insurance to be counted among the unemployed.  (This ratio and these two numbers are NOT seasonally adjusted.)

Extended Benefits (EB) No Longer Available in any State

Extended Benefits claims were only available in Alaska during the weeks ending April 27th and May 4th.  Extended Benefits are no longer available in Alaska (or any other state) starting the week ending May 11th.  

As of the week ending April 27th, only 502 people were still receiving Extended Benefits, as mentioned above.  A year ago, 304,755 people were receiving Extended Benefits.  As recently as April 2012, 412,411 people were receiving Extended Benefits.

Therefore, over the last year, 99.9% of the people who were receiving Extended Benefits are no longer receiving such benefits.  We do not know how many of these 305,000 people found jobs, how many have another source of income in the family, and how many have nothing. 

To reiterate, while a decrease in the number of people FILING for initial claims is a good thing and indicates that fewer people are being laid off, a decrease in the TOTAL number of people getting unemployment insurance may only show that fewer people are eligible for unemployment insurance benefits.

Any questions or confusion, please leave a comment or email me!

What Was the Unemployment Rate When Obama Took Office? (March update)

All Jobs Reports & Numbers Indexed HERE! (2013, 2012, 2011)

Happy Mother's Day! Women 55+ Lead Population Growth.. Again!

Women 55+ are the fastest growing population group in the country over the past 13 years!

We've added 31,300,000 people to the "civilian non-institutional population 16+" since January 2001, the month that George Bush entered the White House.  38.3% (12,000,000) of those people are women 55+, that big blue piece of pie above (compared to 37.4% of last year's increase since 2001).  Now the number of men 55+ has also gone up substantially; 38.0% (11,900,000) of those additional 31.3 million people are men 55+ (compared to 37.3% of last year's increase since 2001).  Notice the big red piece of pie.  (The "civilian non-institutional population 16+" is the base demographic used to determine employment, unemployment, and that elusive "not in the labor force" contingent.)  

No, this doesn't mean that millions of people over 55 are entering this country; it means that the huge Baby Boomer cohort, born in 1946 until about 1964, is getting older.  Expect the number of people 55+ to increase for another 5 - 10 years until the Baby Busters start to hit 55.  Now, the implications of this aging population are great:  Fewer people working, more people getting older and disabled, and more stress on our social safety net and health care systems.  

The other groups?

• Women 25-54:  1,600,000 + 
• Men 25-54:       1,500,000 +
• Women 16-24:  2,100,000 +
• Men 16-24:        2,300,000 +  

But for now, Happy Mother's Day, Moms & Grandmas 55 and over.  There are certainly a lot of us!

(And Happy Mother's Day to all of the Moms and Grandmas under 55 as well!)

(This post was updated from last year.)


While we're talking about Moms and Grandmas:

(Should be:  "Past, Present or Soon-To-Be MOM".  One of these days, the people who create these photos and memes on Facebook will get the spelling and grammar right.. maybe.)  

And one of my all-time favorites:

How Many People Left the Work Force Since Obama Was Inaugurated?

How Many People Have Left the Work Force Since Obama Took Office?

• In January 2009, there were 154,232,000 people in the civilian (labor) work force.
• Now, in April 2013, there are 155,238,000 people in the civilian (labor) work force. 
• That is an INCREASE of 1,006,000 people ADDED to the civilian (labor) work force since Obama was inaugurated.

What Was the Unemployment Rate When Obama Took Office? (April 2013 update)

What was the unemployment rate when Bush left office and Obama was inaugurated? 7.8%

What was the unemployment rate after Obama's first full month in office (February 2009)?  8.3%

What was the unemployment rate at peak?  10.0%

What is today's (April 2013's) unemployment rate?   7.5%

April 2013 Jobs Numbers, Unemployment Reports Listed HERE

All Latest Jobs and Unemployment Reports HERE

How many people were looking for work when Obama was inaugurated; how many were working?  And how many people are looking for work and how many are employed now?

• Read below the graph.

• The following chart shows the unemployment rate in three month intervals plus month-by-month for the latest three months:  

Why are there two lines, one for "Seas Adjusted" and one for "Unadjusted"?

The Bureau of Labor Statistics uses seasonal adjustments to adjust for the volatility in the labor market from one month to the next.  The relatively even red line above shows the unemployment rate based on seasonally adjusted numbers.  The jagged green line shows the unemployment rate based on "real", "raw" numbers; the unadjusted rate.  Notice that the green line goes up in January (after holiday layoffs) and July (school-related layoffs), and it goes down in October and April, which are strong months for workers.  (Employees are all back to school in October, and employers are staffing up for the holidays.  Schools are also full in April and employers are starting to staff up for summer, construction, vacation venues, etc.)  The red line helps us to compare the unemployment rate over a period of months; the green line, however, reflects "reality":  Your friends, neighbors, and family members actually working or not working.  

How Many Jobs Has Obama Created or Lost? (April 2013 update)

How many NET jobs created or lost under Obama as of April 2013?

How many private sector jobs have been lost or added during Obama's presidency?

How many new jobs in the last 4 years since Obama was inaugurated?

How many Americans were working or employed when Obama took office... compared to now?|

Answers to all of these questions below:

All other jobs reports (2011, 2012, 2013) indexed HERE
How Many Jobs (Net) Created in 2013 to date?

Numbers for April with all revisions:

Since the "trough" of the recession in late 2009/early 2010 in seasonally adjusted numbers:

• 6.2 million MORE jobs in total
• 6.8 million MORE private sector jobs
• 5,554,000 MORE people working 

Since Bush left office & Obama took office (January 2009) in seasonally adjusted numbers:

• 1.8 million MORE jobs in total
• 2.6 million MORE private sector jobs
• 1,426,000 MORE people working

Have any private jobs been lost (net) over the past 38 months?

NO!

• 38 months of consecutive private-sector job growth.

Have any jobs been lost (net) over the past 31 months?
NO!

• 31 months of consecutive over all job growth.

Are more people unemployed now than when Obama took office in January 2009?  
NO!

• Despite 1,006,000 MORE people in the labor force (either working or actively looking for work) now vs. January 2009, there are 420,000 FEWER people unemployed now than in January 2009. 

What's the difference between "net" and "gross" jobs gained and lost?

Let's get something straight:  Jobs are lost every week and every month.  People are fired, people are laid off, businesses or locations are closed and everybody is let go.  

Also people quit every week.  You yourself, dear reader,  may have quit a job at some point in time. 

But people are also HIRED every week and every month.  New businesses open, businesses expand, businesses replace people who have left or been fired.  Every week.  You yourself, dear reader, may have been hired for a job at some point in time. 

This happens in good times and bad. 

Yes, even in bad times, people are getting hired.  Even in good times, people are let go.  

Now:  The monthly jobs report, upon which this article is based, presents estimates based on surveys as to how many jobs are gained or lost in a given month.  Those numbers are based on the number of new jobs (people getting hired, businesses opening) MINUS the number of jobs that have been cut (people getting fired, people quitting, businesses closing or cutting back).

The monthly jobs report therefore reports NET job growth or loss.  

For 31 months in this country, we have had MORE jobs being added than we have had jobs being cut.  For 38 months in the private sector (not counting federal workers, state or local workers such as teachers, firemen, cops, or people who staff the DMV, only counting people who work for private businesses), we have had MORE jobs added than we have had jobs being cut.

Fact check and important information on these jobs numbers...

The above jobs numbers are from the BLS jobs report of April 2013, which was released in May 2013.  The surveys used to gather these numbers are taken as of the week which includes the 12th day of the month, in this case, April 12, 2013. 

April 2013 Unemployment Rate & Jobs Numbers

April 2013 Jobs Numbers and Unemployment Rate have been released.  

• 165,000 new jobs
• 176,000 new private sector jobs
• February and March jobs revised upwards
• Unemployment drops to 7.5%
• We've been averaging 203,000 new private sector jobs each month this year.

Watch this spot for details throughout the day.

• Private Sector Job Loss/Growth Since 2008 w/ Graph (Updated for April 2013)
• What Was the Unemployment Rate When Obama Took Office (compared to today)? April 2013 update
• How Many Jobs Created or Lost Under Obama? (April 2013 update)
• Jobs Lost/Gained Year by Year Since 1999 (Updated for April)
• Private/Government Jobs Gained/Lost Month by Month 2011 to 2013 (Updated for April 2013)
• How Many Jobs Have Been Created in 2013 to date? (April update)
• How Many Government Jobs Lost or Added Under Obama? (April update)

• Private Payroller ADP Says 11,9000 Jobs Added in April 2013
• Weekly Initial Unemployment Claims Decrease Significantly
• How Many Jobs Lost or Gained in 2013 to date?
• The Unemployment Rate Would Be 11% if Labor Participation Had Not Decreased!
• Who Are Those 90 Million People Not in the Labor Force? (chart included)