One of the more frequently cited statistics at the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday was the claim that the United States has added 4.5 million private-sector jobs since the beginning of 2010 - but the figure does not tell the whole story of the labor market under President Obama.
The number was cited, in various ways, in the Democratic Party platform, and in the convention speeches of Mayor Rahm Emanuel of Chicago and Mayor Julián Castro of San Antonio. In his keynote speech, Mr. Castro said: “Four years ago, America stood on the brink of a depression. Despite incredible odds and united Republican opposition, our president took action, and now we've seen 4.5 mi llion new jobs.â€
The nation does have 4.5 million more private-sector jobs than it did in January 2010. But by then, Mr. Obama had already been in office for a year. Starting the jobs count in January 2009, the month Mr. Obama took office, shows that the nation now has only 332,000 more private-sector jobs now. Figuring out when to start the count is not easy. Mr. Obama did not take office until Jan. 20, 2009, and his policies did not have time to take effect for months. But when evaluating claims about jobs creation, it is worth looking at when the starting point is.
And note: the Democrats are only talking about private-sector jobs. States, cities and localities have cut hundreds of thousands of public sector jobs in recent years to balance their budgets. Counting all jobs - private and public sector - there are slightly fewer jobs now than there were in January 2009, or slightly more jobs now than there were in February 2009, Mr. Obama's first full month in office.
