Republicans try to claim that March?s job growth was ?mostly? from the Census.
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on April 3rd, 2010 4:39 am by HL
Republicans try to claim that March?s job growth was ?mostly? from the Census.
According to new data from the Labor Department, “employment in the U.S. increased in March by the most in three years,” signaling that the “economic recover will be sustained.” The RNC immediately responded by releasing a briefing that claims that the job growth occured “mostly” due to hiring Census workers: But March Job Growth Is “Disappointment” […]
According to new data from the Labor Department, “employment in the U.S. increased in March by the most in three years,” signaling that the “economic recover will be sustained.” The RNC immediately responded by releasing a briefing that claims that the job growth occured “mostly” due to hiring Census workers:
But March Job Growth Is “Disappointment” Because Job Gains Mostly From Census. “CalculatedRisk reports that even if Friday’s employment report shows a gain of 200,000 jobs in March, as expected, it might be viewed as a disappointment: ‘The March report will be distorted by two factors: 1) any bounce back from the snow storms, and 2) the decennial Census hiring that picked up sharply in March. … Also the Census will add something like 100,000 workers to the March report …” (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, www.bls.gov, Accessed 4/2/10; Ben White and Eamon Javers, Politico’s “Morning Money,” 3/30/10)
The RNC’s claim bears little relation to reality. Of the 162,000 jobs added to the economy last month, 123,000 were in the private sector. Joel Naroff, the president of Naroff Economic Advisors, wrote in a note to clients that “the federal government didn’t hire nearly as many Census workers as thought. It was the private sector that stepped up to the plate.” In fact, the Census Bureau hired only 48,000 workers. Speaker Pelosi’s office put out a chart using Bureau of Labor Statistics data that illustrates the job gains:
Fox Business? Stuart Varney Shoots Down Former Bush Labor Secretary Elaine Chao?s Negative Jobs Report Spin
Earlier today, the Labor Department released its employment report for March 2010, which found that “employment in the U.S. increased in March by the most in three years.” In the report, the Bureau of Labor Statistics also revised its January total from -26,000 to +14,000, and February’s from -36,000 to -14,000. President Obama called the report […]
Earlier today, the Labor Department released its employment report for March 2010, which found that “employment in the U.S. increased in March by the most in three years.” In the report, the Bureau of Labor Statistics also revised its January total from
-26,000 to +14,000, and February’s from -36,000 to -14,000. President Obama called the report “encouraging” while his economic adviser Christina Romer said it “shows continued signs of gradual labor market healing.” Paul Krugman described the job numbers as meaning that “the patient is in stable condition.”
As ThinkProgress noted earlier today, conservatives have sought to rain on Obama’s parade, falsely claiming that the numbers are a “disappointment” because they were “mostly” due to hiring Census workers. On Fox Business today, former Bush labor secretary Elaine Chao attempted to spin the numbers negatively. But host Stuart Varney, who has been cynical about the administration’s economic policies, wouldn’t buy her spin, telling her that “this is not a blip up on a one month basis, there is a trend”:
VARNEY: I’m sure you’ve heard what I’ve just been saying, that we have indeed reached a turn, this is my judgment, a turn from job destruction towards very limited job creation. Would you agree with that?
CHAO: Unfortunately, I don’t. I think this is still a very mixed report and this is only one month. So, we need to see a trend, not just, you know, an uptick perhaps in one month. The unemployment rate stayed steady even though there were jobs created primarily because the labor participation rate is still very low. And…
VARNEY: You know, Ms. Chao, I’ve got to interupt for just a second, I’m sorry, I hate to interrupt.
CHAO: Sure.
VARNEY: But look, we did create jobs in November of last year. And we’ve just had a revision in the January and February numbers for this year, showing a net job gain in those months and we’ve also gained jobs in March. This is not a blip up on a one month basis, there is a trend. Four of the last five months we have seen job creation. Now, I know it’s very slow and it’s not enough. We got that.
CHAO: Yes.
VARNEY: But it is an uptrend. It is a job creation trend.
Chao did not argue with Varney’s pushback. Watch it:
Earlier today, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi released a chart demonstrating Varney’s point that the economy is moving from job destruction towards job creation:
Dartmouth economic professor Andrew Samwick wrote today that March’s employment report shows “what the labor market looks like when it starts to bottom out and slowly recover — overall job growth turns small and positive, cyclically sensitive sectors like temporary help services grow more rapidly than most, and it is tough to make progress against the unemployment rate because the number of job seekers may go up in tandem with total employment.”
