Bush's Record on Jobs

George W. Bush has the worst jobs-creation performance by any President in 66 years. Not since the years of the Great Depression has a president presided over a net-loss of jobs in this country. A summary:

• Jobs Long Gone: To date, nearly 3 million private-sector jobs have been lost under President Bush. While some have been created, they have been lower-paying jobs on average.
  
• Record Setting Family: In 2000, the president with the worst job creation record since the Great Depression was George Bush, Sr. His record of job growth was an anemic 800,000 per year. That record has now been shattered by George Bush, Jr. who has actually lost 400,000 jobs per year -- the worst record of any president since the days of the Great Depression.
  
• Manufacturing Jobs: Manufacturing jobs have been lost in 37 out of 41 months under George Bush. In all, 2.7 million manufacturing jobs have been lost.
  
• Unemployment: There are currently 8,170,000 Americans unemployed. The unemployment rate when George Bush took office was 4.1%. As of Mar 04, it was 5.6%. That represents a 38% increase since the day President Bush took office. And that number does not include the underemployed or the discouraged workers, who have simply given up their job search.
  
• Long Term Unemployment: The number of Americans experiencing long-term unemployment (27 weeks or more) when Bush took office in January 2001 was 650,000. As of Mar 04, that number had risen to 1,871,000 --- a 177% increase in long-term unemployment under Bush.
  
• Down and Out: There are 760,000 workers who have run out of unemployment insurance just since December 2002. These workers were denied extended benefits by the republican-led Congress. Many of these people are now either considered long-term unemployed or have dropped out of the official jobless counts.

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, March 2004