Department of Labor, Job Creation Or Loss, 2000-2010

ALL EMPLOYEES, THOUSANDS

Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

2000 249 121 472 286 225 -46 163 3 122 -11 231 138
2001 -16 61 -30 -281 -44 -128 -125 -160 -244 -325 -292 -178
2002 -132 -147 -24 -85 -7 45 -97 -16 -55 126 8 -156
2003 83 -158 -212 -49 -6 -2 25 -42 103 203 88 124
2004 150 43 338 250 310 81 47 121 160 351 64 132
2005 136 240 142 360 169 246 369 195 63 84 334 158
2006 262 326 304 174 31 69 232 141 100 43 201 177
2007 194 104 239 92 149 55 -20 -71 52 86 128 70
2008 -10 -50 -33 -149 -231 -193 -210 -334 -458 -554 -728 -673
2009 -779 -726 -753 -528 -387 -515 -346 -212 -225 -224 64 -109
2010 -26(P) -36(P)

P : preliminary

What this chart shows is job creation or loss in the thousands, by month and by year, from 2000 to the present. During 2000, things were okay, but fell apart in early 2001 when Greenspan's tech/Nasdaq bubble burst. During 2001, there were job losses in 11 out of the 12 months. In 2002, there were job losses in 9 out of the 12 months. In 2003, there were job losses in 6 out of the 12 months. What does this tell us? Outsourcing, jobs going overseas, illegal immigrants being trucked in by coyotes and taking over industries such as the building trades. Somebody may have been making money in 2001 through 2003, but working people were suffering the beginning of a period of regular unemployment. What is the effect of that? People lose everything during periods of unemployment. Then they start all over again in the next job.

2004-2007 were fine, with some job creation most months. Every year students come out of high school and college looking for jobs, so we need regular job creation to incorporate them into the workforce.

Beginning in January of 2008 through the present, 26 months, we lost jobs in 25 months, and gained jobs in one month only, November of 2009 when we supposedly created 64,000 jobs. Then lost 109,000, 26,000 and 36,000 jobs in the following 3 months.

We have heard some preliminary numbers about March, but the more preliminary ones will come out Friday or Monday. For some reason, we keep getting numbers reported which are then revised months later.

http://data.bls.gov/PDQ/servlet/SurveyOutputServlet?data_tool=latest_numbers&series_id=CES0000000001&output_view=net_1mth

How many jobs do we need to create every month to turn our country around, to keep unemployment from going even higher? Below is a link to one author who says we need 86,000 new jobs every month to bring the unemployed back to full employment, and to create jobs for young people coming into the workforce. Other economists estimate we need from 140,000 to 400,000 new jobs per month just to hold things the way they are, which is in a pretty bad place. So the failure to create jobs for 25 months, with no improvement in sight, is a crisis for working people in this country, for our economy and for our democracy.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/09/86k-new-jobs-need-to-be-a_n_385510.html

The teabaggers are nothing more than fascists. But fascists often gain support because they voice the fear and frustration of working people whose lives are being stripped away by the rich and powerful forces inside our country. When we hear how our politicians live -- each of them collecting millions of dollars in bribes every year, having a net worth well in excess of a million dollars just to get into the Senate -- the Millionaires Club, as some call it -- then they come out and give speeches to us telling us how wonderful they are because they worked for 6 months out of the year, it just does not work anymore.

The Democrats and Obama had better devote themselves now to job creation. Obama promised green jobs, yet today he announced he will give over his administration to the same forces that owned bush-cheney: drill baby drill, the oil companies, who will be allowed to drill off of the coast of the U.S., further polluting the waters, destroying the oceans and the life inside the oceans, and further consolidating their power over our government. Didn't we all read the primer about how oil is destroying the world? Global warming and all that? How many constituents can the Democrats betray and expect to get re-elected?

Note:
(Other views about the number of new jobs needed):

140,000/month: http://www.businessinsider.com/henry-blodget-we-need-140000-new-jobs-a-month-to-keep-unemployment-from-going-higher-2009-12

400,000/month: (Note: Calculating how many jobs ... in box inside article). http://www.epi.org/publications/entry/jobs_picture_20100108/