Obama Jobs Deficit Up Again; Course Correction Required. FLASHBACK- VIDEO of Obama Conning His Sheep

President Obama announced a renewed focus on jobs in his State of the Union address. His budget stated that "it is critical that we take steps to jumpstart job creation."[1] This is an explicit admission of failure for last year's $862 billion stimulus program.[2] Even politicians cannot duck the data forever, such as Friday's jobs report released by the Labor Department. The good news is that the U.S. economy has almost stopped losing jobs, as total employment fell a modest 20,000 jobs.[3] The bad news, however, is more extensive.

The Growing Jobs Deficit

The unemployment rate stands at 9.7 percent, almost double the rate thought consistent with full employment. Further, the only reason the unemployment rate is not even higher is that millions of Americans have left the workforce altogether, as shown by a drop in the labor force participation rate to 64.7 percent from a peak in 2007 of 66.4 percent. Since January 2009, 1 million Americans have simply left the workforce.

The bad news for President Obama in particular is that he is falling further and further behind on his promise to create millions of new jobs. Obama promised that if elected he would create 3.5 million jobs by the end of 2010 through new economic policies, beginning with a massive economic stimulus package. READ MORE...