September 22, 2010 marks the end of summer and beginning of fall. So it’s an appropriate time to review the results of Democrats’ “Recovery Summer” for American workers.
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Recovery_Summer_Report_2010_
In announcing the start of the “Recovery Summer” on June 17, 2010, the White House described Recovery Summer as a “surge in Recovery Act infrastructure projects that will be underway across the country in the coming months – and the jobs they’ll create well into the fall and through the end of the year.” Vice President Biden pledged that “this bold investment in the future will stimulate short-term and long-term American jobs….The upcoming summer of projects is the next step on the road to recovery.”
But did “Recovery Summer” show that Democrats’ trillion-dollar stimulus plan is really working as the White House continues to insist? Unfortunately for American workers, the answer remains a disappointing “no.”
The data in this report shows that as “Recovery Summer” ends today:
(1) The unemployment rate is far higher than Administration officials predicted it would be if their stimulus plan passed;
(2) Unemployment rates in 14 States where the President or Vice President touted “Recovery Summer” in speeches have increased by an average of 1.4 percentage points since stimulus passed;
(3) A total of 49 out of 50 States have lost jobs since Democrats’ February 2009 stimulus;
(4) Instead of the current official unemployment rate of 9.6%, the unemployment rate would be 11% if it included all the “uncounted unemployed” — American workers who have simply given up looking for work or didn’t even bother to try to enter the labor market;
(5) Instead of creating 3.7 million jobs as promised, through August 2010 2.5 million more jobs have been lost since Democrats’ stimulus. The private sector has shed nearly 2.4 million jobs, including over 1.5 million jobs lost in construction and manufacturing alone;
(6) The economy is now over 7 million jobs short of what Democrats promised in January 2009 if their stimulus bill passed; and
(7) The staggering 66% combined rise in debt and unemployment during President Obama’s term has created an enormous “Obama Misery Index.”