With the revised job totals published this morning, we now know that 2012 was a better year for job creation than previously believed — 2.17 million jobs were created just last year overall, 2.24 million in the private sector. When I noted that 2012 was the best year for jobs since 2005, and better than seven of the eight years Bush/Cheney was in office, some of you were skeptical. I received a few “that can’t be right” emails.
So, let’s take a minute to take a closer look. I put together this chart this morning, showing annual job totals from the start of Bush/Quayle through the end of 2012. Blue represents Democratic administrations, while red represents Republican administrations, and darker colors represent job creation overall, while lighter colors represent job creation in just the private sector.
What does this tell us? A few things. First, Clinton and Obama outpace Bush and Bush in creating new jobs, even though both Democratic administrations inherited weaker economies.
Second, the 2.17 million jobs overall in 2012 really was the best year since 2005, and surpass seven of the eight years of Bush/Cheney. While 2012 obviously wasn’t robust for job creation, it managed to surpass three two of the eight years Clinton/Gore was in office, too.
And third, while the private sector has done better than the overall economy under Obama, under his three most recent predecessors, the opposite was true. Yes, it’s further proof that if President Obama is a radical socialist, he’s really bad at implementing the tenets of his leftist ideology.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past." Recommended
