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 120,000 jobs in November, but as has been the case for a long while, it’s the private sector that continues to fare significantly better. Last month, businesses added 140,000 jobs, and the combined revised totals for September and October also show stronger growth than originally estimated.
But, just as a reminder, even 140,000 private-sector jobs, though in keeping with expectations and taking a step in the right direction, should not be considered “strong” growth.
With one month remaining this year, the U.S. private sector has now added 1.67 million jobs in 2011, well ahead of last year’s private-sector total of 1.2 million, and the best year for businesses since 2006. Since March 2010, American businesses have created 2.9 million jobs. (In 2008, the private sector lost 3.8 million jobs, and in 2009, the private sector lost 5 million jobs.)
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.
