How Many People Lost Their Jobs in 2012? (Updated in May 2013 with final 2012 numbers)

Interesting question.  (Answers below.) 

Someone left a comment on one of my articles:

"It is hard too see with all the private businesses cutting back, some leaving the country and others not hiring. I hear frequently of business closing but you report no job losses in the last 35 months??? Where are all the unemployed people who are applying for and getting unemployment coming from?? The government keeps extending unemployment benefits because of all the job losses yet you report more jobs under Obama??. Just wondering?"

It doesn't make sense to some people:  All they hear from right wing (and some mainstream news sources) is that companies are outsourcing jobs, people are being laid off, this company or that company is closing down...  Then how can we possibly have had 35 months of private sector job growth?  Someone must be lying!

(And, of course, they assume it is Obama and the Dems.)

But no...

Through December 2012 from the Job Openings, Layoffs, and Turnovers Survey (JOLTS)& databases:

Numbers below are taken from the BLS' Job Openings, Layoffs, and Turnover Survey (linked above) and the JOLTS databases at the BLS website which provide numbers of people who quit, who are laid off, and who are hired along with numbers of job openings, as reported by employers.

2012 Gross Number of Total Separations:                                                                                49,676,000

• Gross Number of  Layoffs and discharges:                                                                             20,546,000
• Gross Number of Quits:          25,132,000
• Gross Number of "Other" separations:                                                                                   3,997,000

2012 Gross Number of Total Hires:                                                                                            51,991,000                  

Net number of New Jobs through December 2012 on JOLTS: (Number of Hires minus Number of Separations):

                                                      2,315,000

The Monthly Jobs Numbers:

Net Number of New Jobs from the Monthly Jobs Report (through December 2012 with all latest revisions):   
                                                      2,193,000

Please read through the explanation: 

As anybody knows who has followed this blog, people lose their jobs and people are hired in every month, in good times and in bad times.  

Even at the height of the job loss of the recent recession, in fall through summer of 2008-2009, between 3,700,000 and 4,100,000 people were hired in each of those months.  The problem was that layoffs and discharges, which usually average less than 2,000,000 a month, really popped up:    Over 4,600,000 MORE people were laid off in 2009 in total than were laid off in 2007, as you can see from the graph below.

Notice that about 26,800,000 people in total were laid off or discharged in 2009.  Another 24,700,000 quit their jobs, for a total of 51,500,000 separations.  Only 46,400,000 people were hired, so we had a NET jobs loss of over 5 million that year; that is, at the end of 2009, we had 5 million FEWER jobs than we had at the beginning of 2009.

"Net" vs. "Gross" Jobs Numbers 

When the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) talks about "jobs" numbers, it talks about "net" jobs numbers; that is, if more people were hired in a month than lost their jobs, the jobs numbers are higher; if more people lost or left their jobs in a month, the jobs numbers are lower.

"Gross" numbers are the numbers of people who actually lost or left their jobs and the numbers of people who were hired, without subtracting losses from gains or vice verse.  The number of people who claim unemployment or who file for first time unemployment claims is a "gross" numbers.  It doesn't account for people who were hired during that same week.  It doesn't account for people who quit during that same week.      

To repeat, through December 2012 from the Job Openings, Layoffs, and Turnovers Survey (JOLTS)& databases:

Numbers below are taken from the BLS' Job Openings, Layoffs, and Turnover Survey (linked above) and the JOLTS databases at the BLS website which provide numbers of people who quit, who are laid off, and who are hired along with numbers of job openings, as reported by employers.

2012 Gross Number of Total Separations:              49,676,000

• Gross Number of  Layoffs and discharges:      20,546,000
• Gross Number of Quits:                                  25,132,000
• Gross Number of "Other" separations:             3,997,000

2012 Gross Number of Total Hires:                        51,991,000                  

Net number of New Jobs through December 2012 on JOLTS: (Number of Hires minus Number of Separations):

                                                                          2,315,000

• The number of new hires in 2012 exceeds the number of new hires for each of the past three years.
• The number of layoffs and discharges in 2012 is the at about the lowest level of layoffs and discharges since the JOLTS databases were established in 2002.  (It is very slightly higher than the level of layoffs and discharges in 2011.)
• The number of people quitting is the highest number of people quitting in the past four years.  (This is a good thing.  Fewer people quit when the economy is bad and people are unsure that they can easily re-enter the job market.  Also, people aren't leaving to go to other companies when the Quits numbers are low.)  

The Monthly Jobs Numbers:

Net Number of New Jobs from the Monthly Jobs Report (through December 2012 with all latest revisions):                            2,193,000

So.. How Many People Lost Their Jobs in 2012?

About 20,500,000 lost their jobs (were laid off or discharged) in 2012, but remember two things:  

• This is a very low number of layoffs and discharges; among the lowest in the past 12 years. 
• In "net" jobs numbers, 2012 was a year in which over two million more jobs were added than people lost jobs or people quit.    

"This has got to be WRONG!  All I ever hear about are layoffs, companies getting rid of people, jobs going offshore!  I have friends and family members that still don't have jobs!  This shows that we are ADDING jobs!  Someone is lying!"

• Remember that we are still over three million jobs short of the number of jobs that we had in early 2008.  The population has grown, so we need about 800,000 to a million more jobs a year just to accommodate population growth.  That means that we would need at least 7 million more jobs right this minute to get as many people working who want to work as compared to early 2008.  Also, some states and some industries are experiencing a much slower recovery than others.    
• Remember that one political party has a vested interest in portraying the economic recovery in the most abject of terms.  They want you to believe that lowering tax rates for the rich guys is going to somehow lead to much quicker economic recovery.
• Remember that gloom and doom news always makes better press than upbeat news.
• Remember also that the recovery is still very fragile and, what with fiscal cliffs, sequesters, and budget fights, things could still turn around and go downhill, which would please the Republicans to no end.
  
  

All Jobs Reports and Numbers HERE!

How Many Jobs Created or Lost Under Obama? (December Update)

This report has been updated for JULY 2014 HERE:  How Many Jobs Have Been Created or Lost Under Obama?

All other jobs reports (2011 through 2014) indexed HERE

How Many Jobs (Net) Created in 2014 to Date? HERE

The following numbers are for December 2012.  
For latest reports and numbers, please click one of the links above.

How many jobs created or lost under Obama?

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?

Numbers for December WITH benchmark revisions:

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

• 5,163,000 MORE jobs in total
• 5,776,000 MORE private sector jobs
• 5,280,000 MORE people working 

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

• 846,000 MORE jobs in total
• 1,564,000 MORE private sector jobs
• 1,152,000 MORE people working

Since the stimulus was passed (# as of March 12, 2009) in seasonally adjusted numbers: 

• 2,369,000 MORE jobs in total
• 3,076,000 MORE private sector jobs
• 2,584,000 MORE people working

Since the beginning of Obama's first Fiscal Year (October 2009) in seasonally adjusted numbers: 

• 4,875,000 MORE jobs in total
• 5,547,000 MORE private sector jobs
• 4,884,000 MORE people working

Have any private jobs been lost (net) over the past 34 months?
NO!

• 34 months of consecutive private-sector job growth.

Have any jobs been lost (net) over the past 27 months?
NO!

• 27 months of consecutive over all job growth.

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

The above jobs numbers are from the BLS jobs report of December 2012, which was released in January 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, December 12, 2012.  We won't have numbers for the full first term of the Obama administration until the January 2013 (which represents jobs numbers as of the week containing January 12th, 2013) numbers are released the first week of February.    

The first section of numbers above DOES include jobs numbers WITH the benchmark revisions which were announced September 27, 2012.   The benchmark revisions will NOT be included in the official BLS data until the January 2013 report which is released in early February 2013.  The second set of numbers DOES NOT include the benchmark revisions.  Benchmark revisions added 386,000 jobs in total and 453,000 private sector jobs.  Information about these revisions can be found HERE.  Benchmark revisions did NOT change the number of people employed (workers) which are taken from a different survey.

Numbers for November WITHOUT benchmark revisions:

How many jobs created or lost under Obama?

How many private sector jobs have been lost or added during Obama's presidency? (All seasonally adjusted numbers.)

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

• 4,777,000 MORE jobs in total
• 5,323,000 MORE private sector jobs
• 5,280,000 MORE people working 

Since Bush left office & Obama took office (January 2009):

• 460,000 MORE jobs in total 
• 1,111,000 MORE private sector jobs
• 1,152,000 MORE people working

Since the stimulus was passed (# as of March 12, 2009): 

• 1,983,000 MORE jobs in total
• 2,623,000 MORE private sector jobs
• 2,584,000 MORE people working

Since the beginning of Obama's first Fiscal Year (October 2009): 

• 4,489,000 MORE jobs in total
• 5,094,000 MORE private sector jobs
• 4,884,000 MORE people working

(Explanations and detail below.  Keep reading.)

How many jobs have been lost or gained during the Obama administration?  Have more new jobs been created or have more jobs been lost under Obama to date?   

Summary:  We are in positive territory when we look at total jobs numbers, private jobs numbers, and people working compared to these numbers when Obama was inaugurated in January 2009.

We are in positive territory when we look at total jobs numbers, private jobs numbers, and people working compared to the "trough" of the jobs recession in late 2009/early 2010.

We are also in positive territory when we look at total jobs numbers, private jobs numbers, and people working compared to the start of Obama's first Fiscal Year in office which started October 1, 2009.

 
When we look at the BLS benchmark revisions, we are in positive territory in terms of total jobs numbers, numbers of people working, and private sector jobs since Obama took office.  

We are in negative territory in terms of government jobs numbers since Obama took office.  Check HERE for details of government jobs numbers since Obama took office.  (This is the first economic recovery since 1947 in which government job growth did not keep pace with or exceed private job growth.)

How Many More Jobs a Month?We are now adding jobs at a fair clip, with an average of 169,000 MORE jobs  total added per month since December 2010 with the revised benchmarked data, and an average of  185,000 MORE jobs added per month in the private sector since December 2010 with the revised benchmarked data.

How Many Jobs a Month Do We Need for Population Growth?
About 70,000.  Check this link for explanation and details.

All Jobs & Unemployment Reports indexed HERE:

Jobs Reports for 2011, 2012, & 2013 To Date

What Was the Unemployment Rate When Obama Took Office Compared to Now? (April 2013 Update)

Weekly New First-Time Unemployment Claims Take a Tumble

January jobs reports to be released Friday, February 1st.  Check back for updates!

First time unemployment jobless claims decreased significantly by 37,000 for the week ending January 12th.  The four-week moving average # of claims decreased by 6,750.  First time claims are now at about the same level that they were in late 2007 to early 2008.

(Even though these numbers are seasonally adjusted, claims numbers around the holidays do tend to be volatile and should only be analyzed in terms of a trend over a period of weeks.  See the graph below.) 

For the week ending December 29nd, 5,821,966 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 an increase of 465,000 continuing claims since the previous week, a fairly typical increase for the week after Christmas.

Some of the increase in continuing claims could also have been due to confusion related to the expiration of the unemployment extensions and the subsequent fiscal cliff deal.  The numbers of continuing claims may have been more volatile than usual.  Unemployment extensions did expire December 29th, but they were then continued as part of the fiscal cliff deal on January 2nd.  People who have not yet exhausted all of their available unemployment extensions are still eligible to collect under the EUC program. 

Percent of Unemployed People Receiving Benefits increased to about 49.2%.

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-2012-13) and the past three years (blue- 2009-10, green- 2010-11 and black- 2011-12) are marked in different colors.  You can see that, as a trend, first time claims for unemployment have gone down SIGNIFICANTLY from one year to the next, even though there are variations within the year.  You can also see the impact of Hurricane Sandy on claims in November 2012. 

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? (November update)

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

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

As usual, to put this into perspective, check out the red line on the chart above to see where jobless claims are now, in late 2012/early 2013, compared to the past three years.

From the current report:

In the week ending January 12, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 335,000, a decrease of 37,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 372,000. The 4-week moving average was 359,250, a decrease of 6,750 from the previous week's revised average of 366,000.

The initial claims as announced last week were 371,000, so the claims from that week were revised upwards by 1,000. 

Current December/January 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 December/January 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, increased 87,000 for the week ending January 5th after decreasing 109,000 the week before.  3,214,000 people filed continuing regular state claims in the week ending January 5th.  As a whole, continuing regular claims continue to decline despite some individual weekly increases.  (There were 3,497,000 continuing claims a year ago.) 

Total number of people receiving unemployment insurance increased to 49.2% of the officially unemployed for the week ending December 29nd.  

The weekly report also tells us the total number of people who are receiving unemployment benefits.  For the week ending December 29th, 5,821,966 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 11,844,000 people who are unemployed according to the monthly December unemployment situation report which was released two weeks ago.  Those numbers, showing that only 49.2% 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) Expire

Extended Benefits claims have expired as NO states were eligible for Extended Benefits in the latest report.  

As of the week ending December 22nd, only 1,143 people were still receiving Extended Benefits, as mentioned above.  As recently as late April, 350,579 people were receiving Extended Benefits.  A year ago, 533,172 people were receiving Extended Benefits.

Therefore, in about eight months, 99.7% of the people who were receiving Extended Benefits are no longer receiving such benefits.  We do not know how many of these 348,000 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!

Weekly Unemployment Claims Increase Very Slightly

First time unemployment jobless claims increased by 4,000 for the week ending January 5th.  The four-week moving average # of claims increased by 6,750.  First time claims are now about what they were in early 2008.
(Even though these numbers are seasonally adjusted, claims numbers around the holidays do tend to be volatile and should only be analyzed in terms of a trend over a period of weeks.) 

For the week ending December 22nd, 5,356,271 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 51,000  continuing claims since the previous week.

Most of this drop of 51,000 continuing claims was due to a drop of 74,000 continuing claims in the EUC (federal unemployment extensions) program  between December 15th and December 22nd.  

Some of the drop in continuing claims could have been due to confusion related to the expiration of the unemployment extensions.  However, the current unemployment extensions were continued as part of the fiscal cliff deal, so people who have not yet exhausted all of their available unemployment extensions are still eligible to collect under the EUC program. 

Percent of Unemployed People Receiving Benefits has decreased to about 45.2%.

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-2012-13) and the past three years (blue- 2009-10, green- 2010-11 and black- 2011-12) are marked in different colors.  You can see that, as a trend, first time claims for unemployment have gone down SIGNIFICANTLY from one year to the next, even though there are variations within the year.  You can also see the impact of Hurricane Sandy on claims in November 2012. 

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? (November update)

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

First time unemployment claims decreased by 5,000 over those reported last week.  Last week's initial claims numbers were revised downwards by  9,000.  There have usually been slight upwards revisions  (1,000 to 3,000) in the numbers of initial claims in most of the weeks of the past four months.  (The chart above shows REVISED claims numbers.)

As usual, to put this into perspective, check out the red line on the chart above to see where jobless claims are now, in late 2012/early 2013, compared to the past three years.

From the current report:

In the week ending January 5, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 371,000, an increase of 4,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 367,000. The 4-week moving average was 365,750, an increase of 6,750 from the previous week's revised average of 359,000.

The initial claims as announced last week were 372,000, so the claims from that week were revised downwards by 5,000. 

Current December/January Initial Claims Continue to be the Lowest Since Early 2008.

As a whole, the current numbers of initial claims continue to be the lowest December/January initial claims numbers since 2008.
  

Continuing regular state claims, from people who are continuing to claim unemployment through the initial 20 to 26 week regular unemployment program, decreased 127,000 for the week ending December 29th after increasing by 44,000 the week before.  3,109,000 people filed continuing regular state claims in the week ending December 29th.  As a whole, continuing regular claims continue to decline despite some individual weekly increases.  (There were 3,606,000 continuing claims a year ago.) 

Total number of people receiving unemployment insurance decreased slightly to 45.2% of the officially unemployed for the week ending December 22nd.  

The weekly report also tells us the total number of people who are receiving unemployment benefits.  For the week ending December 22nd, 5,356,271 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 11,844,000 people who are unemployed according to the monthly December unemployment situation report which was released last week.  Those numbers, showing that only 45.2% 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) Expire

Extended Benefits claims have expired as NO states were eligible for Extended Benefits in the latest report.  

As of the week ending December 22nd, only 1,045 people were still receiving Extended Benefits, as mentioned above.  As recently as late April, 350,579 people were receiving Extended Benefits.  A year ago, 528,184 people were receiving Extended Benefits.

In about seven months, 99.7% of the people who were receiving Extended Benefits are no longer receiving such benefits.  We do not know how many of these 345,000 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!

Private & Government Jobs Gained & Lost Under Obama (December 2012 update)

All Latest Jobs & Unemployment Reports (2011 - 2013) Listed Here

Jobs Lost and Gained Year by Year Since 1999 HERE!

Private & Government Jobs Gained, Lost Under Obama (March 2013 update) HERE!

The following numbers are as of December 2012.  For latest updates, please click one of the links above. 

How many jobs (total, private, and government) have been lost or gained since Obama was inaugurated?  (December 2012 update)  

• 4,317,000 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%.    
• 4,777,000 jobs (in seasonally adjusted numbers) were CREATED from the "trough" of the recession until now, December 2012.  That's an increase of 3.7%.
• In total, 460,000  jobs (in seasonally adjusted numbers) were ADDED from the time Obama took office until now, December 2012.  That's an increase of 0.3%.
• We have experienced 27 months WITHOUT job losses since September 2010.  We have ADDED 4,136,000 jobs during those 27 months. 
• We now have 134, 021,000 TOTAL non-farm jobs. 

With Benchmark Revisions:

• 4,317,000 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%.    
• 5,163,000 jobs (in seasonally adjusted numbers) were CREATED from the "trough" of the recession until now, December 2012. 
• In total, 846,000  jobs (in seasonally adjusted numbers) were ADDED from the time Obama took office until now, December 2012.   
• We now have 134,407,000 TOTAL non-farm jobs. 

* Click on the link for information about Benchmark Revisions which were released last week by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  The BLS databases will not be updated with these new numbers until January 2013.

*  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 (December 2004), there were still 150,000 FEWER jobs than when he was inaugurated in January 2001 (compared to 846,000 MORE for Obama).  The number of jobs didn't eclipse the number when Bush was first inaugurated until February 2005, in Bush's second term.    

How Many Jobs Lost or Added Under Obama? (December 2012 update)

September 27th Important Jobs Update: Good News- 386,000 More Jobs Than Estimated.

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

• 4,213,000 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%.
• 5,323,000 PRIVATE-sector jobs (in seasonally adjusted numbers) were GAINED OR CREATED from the "trough" of the recession until now, December 2012.  That's an increase of 5.0%.
• In total, 1,111,000 private sector jobs (in seasonally adjusted numbers) have been GAINED from the time Obama took office until now, December 2012.  That's a net increase of 1.0%. *
• We have experienced 34 months of positive private-sector job GROWTH from February 2010 until December 2012.  We have added 5,323,000 private-sector jobs during those 34 months.    
• We now have 112,096,000  PRIVATE sector non-farm jobs.

With Benchmark Revisions:

• 4,213,000 PRIVATE-sector jobs (in seasonally adjusted numbers) were LOST from the time Obama took office until the "trough" of the recession in early 2010.  
• 5,776,000 PRIVATE-sector jobs (in seasonally adjusted numbers) were GAINED OR CREATED from the "trough" of the recession until now, December 2012. 
• In total, 1,564,000 private sector jobs (in seasonally adjusted numbers) have been GAINED from the time Obama took office until now, December 2012. 
• We now have 112,549,000 PRIVATE sector non-farm jobs.

*Though, as of December 2012, we still have fewer private-sector jobs (in adjusted numbers) than when President Obama took office, 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 (December 2004), there were still 1,008,000 FEWER private sector jobs than when he was inaugurated in January 2001 (compared to 1,564,000 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.  

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

• 102,000 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  .47%  (about half of a percent). 
• Another 546,000 GOVERNMENT jobs (in seasonally adjusted numbers) were LOST from the "trough" of the recession until now, December 2012.  That's a decrease of 2.4%.    
• In total, 651,000 GOVERNMENT jobs (in seasonally adjusted numbers) were LOST from the time Obama took office until now, December 2012.  That's a decrease of 2.9%.  A large portion of these jobs, at least 270,000, have been lost in the "Local Government - Education" sector. (Teachers.)
• We have experienced decreases in the number of government jobs in 25 out of the last 30 months, starting in June 2010, when the layoff of 2010 Census workers began.  However, we have experienced slight increases in the number of government jobs in the last 3 out of the last 6 months.     
• We now have 21,925,000 GOVERNMENT jobs, not including people in the military.  (Civilians employed by the U.S. and working for the military are counted.)

With Benchmark Revisions:

• Another 576,000 GOVERNMENT jobs (in seasonally adjusted numbers) were LOST from the "trough" of the recession until now, December 2012.      
• In total, 718,000 GOVERNMENT jobs (in seasonally adjusted numbers) were LOST from the time Obama took office until now, December 2012.
• We now have 21,858,000 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 June 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 4,213,000 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 your reasoning!