JobWatch

Bush Administration’s tax cuts falling short in job creation
The Bush Administration called the tax cut package, which took effect in July 2003, its “Jobs and Growth Plan.” The president’s economics staff, the Council of Economic Advisers (see background documents), projected that the plan would raise the level of growth enough to create 5.5 million jobs by the end of 2004—344,000 new jobs each month, starting in July 2003. Last month, September 2003, the jobs and growth plan fell 287,000 jobs short of the administration’s projection. The cumulative shortfall since July 2003—the amount by which the projected jobs exceeded actual job growth in August and September—is now 672,000.

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States plagued by higher unemployment
Given the grim national job picture, it’s not surprising that most states are facing troubled job markets. In every state the unemployment rate is still higher than it was when the recession started. In 32 states across the country, at least a full percentage point more of the labor force cannot find work than at the official start of the recession in March 2001. Eight states have seen at least a two percentage point increase in the unemployment rate.

The job losses observed for the nation as a whole are pervasive across the states. Nearly two and a half years after March 2001, 36 states still have fewer jobs than they did at the onset of the recession, compared to only 19 states with fewer jobs after the recession of the 1990s (see state data and organizations).

Greatest employment contraction since the Great Depression
Since the recession began 30 months ago in March 2001, 3.2 million private sector jobs have disappeared, a 2.8% contraction. This is the largest sustained loss of jobs since the Great Depression. Since the official end of the recession in November 2001, there has been a 1.1 million loss in private sector jobs, a 1.0% contraction. Unemployment has risen to nine million people, as the unemployment rate increased from 4.0% in 2000 to 6.1% in September 2003. (See State data and organizations for more information on your state.)