DOUBLE STANDARD: ROMNEY CAMPAIGN BLAMES OBAMA FOR HIS FIRST MONTH IN OFFICE BUT DUCKS ACCOUNTABILITY FOR HIS OWN FIRST THREE YEARS IN OFFICE

5/2/12: Romney: “When The President Was A Candidate, He Said That He Would Measure Success By Whether Or Not We Were Creating Jobs, Well He’s Been In Office Three And A Half Years, And No Net New Jobs Have Been Created.” [Romney event, Chantilly, VA, 5/2/12]

< President Obama Has Net Positive Private Sector Job Creation Over His Term In Office. In January 2009, the U.S. private sector employed 110,985,000 people. In May 2012, the U.S. private sector employed 111,040,000 people, adding 55,000 jobs over the period. [Bureau Of Labor Statistics, accessed 6/4/12]

Romney Surrogate Ed Gillespie Said Looking At The Whole Of Romney’s Term In Office Dilutes Gains Made In His Last Year. “This is what they’re doing, Chris. You take the first year, which is a low base year when the governor came in and took office, because it was 50th in job creation out of all of the states, dead last … and they’re averaging out over the four years. So, they are bringing down the gains of his fourth year in office, which shows the real impact of his policies and diluting it with the first year in office.” [Ed Gillespie on Fox News Sunday, 6/3/12]

Washington Post’s Greg Sargent: Romney Uses Different Metrics For The Romney and Obama Records. “The Romney team is asking the press to focus on the jobs added later in Romney’s term, rather than on the job losses that were taking place when Romney took office. And yet, at the same time, the Romney team is basing its entire case against Obama’s record on the idea that there has been a net job loss during the Obama presidency — a metric that does factor in the hundreds and hundreds of thousands of jobs lost in the very beginning of Obama’s term, before his policies took effect.” [Washington Post, The Plum Line,6/4/12]

MSNBC: Romney Wants His Own Standard. “Look, this isn’t complicated. Romney is trying to create a standard for success that only he’s allowed to use. After all, what’s President Obama’s defense on the economy? He inherited a disaster but helped turn things around. After one term, conditions weren’t excellent, but they showed clear improvement after four years. An economy that was losing jobs was, finally, adding jobs.” [Maddow Blog, MSNBC.com, 6/4/2012]

THE ROMNEY RECOVERY HAS BEEN WEAKER THAN THE OBAMA RECOVERY

Even Despite the Deep Recession He Inherited, Over Five Times More Jobs Have Been Created Under President Obama in Massachusetts In The First 39 Months Of His Term Than At the Same Point In Romney’s Term. Massachusetts has added a net of 21,400 jobs in the first 39 months of President Obama’s term.  They added only 4,800 jobs in the first 39 months of Governor Romney’s term, starting in December 2006.  [Bureau of Labor Statistics,5/31/2012] (http://www.bls.gov/data/)

Romney’s Last Year of Job Growth – Which His Campaign Highlights as His Strongest – Is Eight Percent Weaker Than the Most Recent Year of President Obama’s Economic Record. Over the past 12 months under President Obama, the number of U.S. jobs has grown by 1.8 million nationwide, a 1.4 percent increase. In Governor Romney’s last year in office, the number of Massachusetts jobs grew by 40,500, a 1.3 percent increase. [BLS.gov, accessed 6/4/12]

And Romney’s Weaker Jobs Record Comes Even He Inherited a Growing Economy While President Obama Inherited the Deepest Recession Since the Great Depression. When President Obama was inaugurated, the US economy was deep in an 18-montt recession – the longest since 1933 — and it didn’t start growing again until June 2009, six months after the president took office. Meanwhile, the U.S. economy had been growing for over a year when Romney took office in January 2003: the 2001 recession was over in November 2001. [NBER, accessed 6/4/12] (http://www.nber.org/cycles.html)

ROMNEY CLAIMS TO HAVE IMPROVED MASSACHUSETTS’ JOB RANKINGS, BUT HE TRAILED THE NATIONAL AVERAGE EACH YEAR HE WAS IN OFFICE

Massachusetts Was Below Average In Job Creation Ever Year Of Romney’s Term. Massachusetts plummeted to 47th out of 50 in job creation over Romney’s four years in office. His campaign claims that it reached 30th in his last year in office – but under that measure, Massachusetts’ performance was worse than most of the country. [BLS.gov, accessed 6/4/12]

Massachusetts Did Better Before Romney Arrived and After He Left.  Massachusetts ranked 36th in the four years before Romney took office and 11th in the four years after he left . The state never reached a higher rank than 30th, though it reached the top 10 in 2000 and 2009. [BLS.gov, accessed 6/4/12]

Under Romney Manufacturing Jobs In Massachusetts Declined By Twice The National Average—“The Third Worst Record In The Country.” Andrew Sum and Joseph McLaughlin from Center for Market Studies at Northeastern University wrote, “Manufacturing payroll employment throughout the nation declined by nearly 1.1 million or 7 percent between 2002 and 2006, but in Massachusetts it declined by more than 14 percent, the third worst record in the country.” [Sum and McLaughlin, Op-Ed, Boston Globe, 7/29/07] 

< Massachusetts Had The Third-Worst Record For Manufacturing Jobs.Romney’s Massachusetts lost manufacturing jobs at twice the national average, and had the third-worst record on manufacturing jobs of any state. [BLS.gov, accessed 6/4/12]

Massachusetts Lagged Behind The U.S. In Economic Growth Each Year Of Romney’s Term. Massachusetts grew at half the pace of the nation as a whole when Romney was governor. The US economy grew at an average annual pace of 2.9%, while the Massachusetts economy grew at an average annual pace of 1.2%. [BEA.gov, accessed 6/3/12]

Household income Fell In Massachusetts While It Rose For The Country As A Whole. During the four years Romney was governor, median household income in Massachusetts fell $589, while it rose $726 for the country as a whole. [Census.gov, accessed 6/3/12]

Romney’s Massachusetts Saw Nearly A Quarter Million Residents Flee The State – The Third Highest Rate Of Population Loss In The Country – Leading To A Decline In The Labor Force. “We were one of only two states to have experienced no growth in its resident labor force. Again, without the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina on the dispersal of the Louisiana population, Massachusetts would have ranked last on this measure. The decline in the state’s labor force, which was influenced in large part by high levels of out-migration of working-age adults, helped hold down the official unemployment rate of the state. Between July 2002 and July 2006, the US Census Bureau estimated that 222,000 more residents left Massachusetts for other states than came here to live. This high level of net domestic out-migration was equivalent to 3.5 percent of the state’s population, the third highest rate of population loss in the country. Excluding the population displacement effects of Hurricane Katrina on Louisiana, Massachusetts would have ranked second highest on this measure. We were a national leader in exporting our population.” [Sum and McLaughlin, Op-Ed, Boston Globe, 7/29/07]

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