Another Bush Legacy: 84 Percent More Unemployed

from OurFuture.org:



Another Bush Legacy: 84 Percent More Unemployed
By Isaiah J. Poole

January 9th, 2009 - 10:47am ET


Let history be clear on one point when it comes to Bush's mismanagement of the economy: Since January 2001, the month George W. Bush took office, the number of unemployed people has increased more than 84 percent.

That statistic is based on seasonally-adjusted data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics released today. While most of today's economic focus is on the direct impact of the economic downturn on employment, it is equally important to keep the long view in mind, for in the long view is the evidence that conservative economic approaches to creating jobs have utterly failed and their proponents are thoroughly discredited.

When President Bush took office, the unemployment rate was 4.2 percent and the ranks of the unemployed stood at just over 6 million. As it turns out, the nation would never again see unemployment that low during the entire Bush term. Today, the unemployment rate is 7.2 percent and there are 11.1 million people unemployed.

Also noteworthy is the employment-to-population ratio. When Bush took office, that ratio was 64.4 percent. It would never see that level again. It went down through his presidency to today's 61 percent. That's through all of the business and high-income tax cuts that Bush and conservatives said would create jobs. .......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2009010209/another-bush-legacy-84-percent-more-unemployed