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[Michael Czeiszperger <michael AT czeiszperger.org>]

On Apr 12, 2004, at 2:59 PM, Tony Spencer wrote:

> Job growth is poor?  Perhaps you didn't see the numbers for March and  
> the
> revised numbers for January and February.

In 2001 and 2002 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics  
http://www.bls.gov, the combined net job loss was 11,130,000.  That's  
eleven million jobs gone.  You can look it up yourself just as I did.

They haven't published the actual revised figures from the 1st quarter  
of 2003 so I can't comment, but the original 1st quarter figures as  
published on the BLS website was for a net job loss of 658,000 in the  
1st quarter of 2003.

When you're dealing with large numbers, its easy to get excited, but  
you have to remember that the point is to compare the job growth  
figures with what we should have.  The reason its called a "jobless  
recovery" is the job growth is less than half what you'd expect IF the  
economy was in a recovery given the reported increase in the gross  
domestic product.

Here's the table I calculated for the last few years:

Net Job Gain/Loss
2000: +1,961,000
2001: -10,774,000
2002:-356,000
2003: (1Q) -658,000
________________________________________________________________________ 
_________
If you put up a large switch in a cave somewhere, with a sign on it  
saying "End-
of-the-World Switch. PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH", the paint wouldn't even have  
time
to dry. -- Pratchett
        -- michael at czeiszperger dot org, Chapel Hill, NC