CNN Fact Check: Obama's 4.5 million jobs Figure Misleading - Polidicks

[QUOTE] [B](CNN)[/B] -- Anyone watching the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday night heard the number 4.5 million several times. "Despite incredible odds and united Republican opposition, our president took action, and now we've seen 4.5 million new jobs," San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro, the party's keynote speaker, said. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who served as President Barack Obama's chief of staff, and Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, who followed Obama's November rival Mitt Romney as governor of Massachusetts, both cited the same number. [URL="http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/05/politics/fact-check-obama-jobs/index.html?hpt=po_c2"]Sights and sounds from the DNC[/URL] It's a big-sounding number, given the still-sputtering job market. So we're giving it a close eyeballing. [B]The facts:[/B] The number Castro cites is an accurate description of [URL="http://research.stlouisfed.org/fredgraph.png?g=abw"]the growth of private-sector jobs since January 2010[/URL], when the long, steep slide in employment finally hit bottom. But while a total of 4.5 million jobs sounds great, it's not the whole picture. Nonfarm private payrolls hit a post-recession low of 106.8 million that month, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The figure currently stands at 111.3 million as of July. While that is indeed a gain of 4.5 million, [B]it's only [URL="http://research.stlouisfed.org/fredgraph.png?g=aby"]a net gain of 300,000 [/URL]over the course of the Obama administration to date.[/B] The private jobs figure stood at 111 million in January 2009, the month Obama took office. And [URL="http://research.stlouisfed.org/fredgraph.png?g=abz"]total nonfarm payrolls[/URL], including [B]government workers, are down from 133.6 million[/B] workers at the beginning of 2009 [B]to 133.2 million[/B] in July 2012. [B]There's been a net loss of nearly 1 million public-sector jobs since Obama took office[/B], despite a surge in [B]temporary hiring[/B] for the 2010 census. Meanwhile, the jobs that have come back aren't the same ones that were lost. [URL="http://ireport.cnn.com/topics/797214"]Are you better off?[/URL] According to a study released last week by the liberal-leaning [URL="http://www.nelp.org/"]National Employment Law Project[/URL], [B]low-wage fields such as retail sales and food service are adding jobs nearly three times as fast as higher-paid occupations. [/B] [B]Conclusion:[/B] The figure of 4.5 million jobs is accurate if you look at the most favorable period and category for the administration. But overall, there are still fewer people working now than when Obama took office at the height of the recession.[/QUOTE] [URL]http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/05/politics/fact-check-obama-jobs/index.html?hpt=po_c2[/URL] Facts: ~300,000 net created. ~400,000 lost government jobs. Rapid increase in low-paying jobs.

I don't think it's outlandishly misleading, but they are choosing to hype a large-sounding number instead of the unimpressive, but more relevant, net number of jobs created. Personally I don't think he should be running on this claim, he should be pointing to the destruction of good jobs and the shitty low-wage jobs that are replacing as evidence that the obstructionist Republicans in Congress are holding back the recovery by preventing more stimulus or direct job creation. Don't dodge the numbers, use them to beat your opponents. People will sympathize, we've spent the last two years watching those assholes run the country to the brink of disaster again and again to force concessions on bullshit social issues like abortion.

this is called Political Inflation in economic circles

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It's not solely the president, it's him, his cabinet and the people under his jurisdiction (which is a lot). It should be on any president's agenda to encourage and help aid the production of jobs or minimize unemployment. It's not solely his duty, but he's in charge of the people who have influence over it. When you're the boss, you're gonna catch flak for something you and / or your administration isn't doing well or as promised.

I don't think that was misleading...I mean they stated many times (at least I heard Erin Burnett say it later) that those jobs were only private sector jobs..but I guess other people aren't as good of listeners as I am...