In the previous post, we talked about the new monthly jobs report, but in keeping with tradition, here’s a slightly different chart — one showing just the private sector job market.
Overall, the U.S. economy added an anemic 54,000 jobs in May, but as has been the case for quite a while, there was a major gap between the public and private sectors. Businesses added 83,000 jobs in May, while 29,000 jobs were lost in the public sector at the same time, thanks to budget cuts at the state and local level.
It’s the weakest jobs report in nearly a year, and further evidence that the economy is in desperate need of a boost. It can’t get that boost, of course, because congressional Republicans refuse to consider anything other than austerity measures, which make unemployment worse.
And with that, here’s a different homemade chart, showing monthly job losses/gains in the private sector since the start of the Great Recession. The image makes a distinction — red columns point to monthly job totals under the Bush administration, while blue columns point to job totals under the Obama administration. (The chart is now smaller to fit the redesigned website.)
