The Obama-Romney Jobs Debate; Sorting through the facts about Massachusetts and Washington.
This week a new television ad from President Obama's re-election campaign says that as Governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney had "one of the worst economic records in the country." It's hard to dispute that characterization when you consider the long-term impact of Mr. Romney's health-care reform and the federal legislation it inspired. But it's easier to dispute when you examine Massachusetts employment during the Romney era.</br></br>RomneyCare has driven up health costs in the Bay State, and ObamaCare will do likewise for the nation. But what about the job creation records? Fortunately for undecided voters, good data exist to make an informed comparison.</br></br>Several weeks ago Mr. Obama focused his jobs argument on the company that Mr. Romney founded, Bain Capital. Employment growth is usually a byproduct of a firm's successful pursuit of profit. But it's become clear that even by the most conservative estimates, Bain has helped create more than 100,000 jobs by making companies grow.</br></br>This is especially embarrassing for the White House because, according to the seasonally adjusted jobs numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics in its household survey, 100,000 is the total net increase in U.S. jobs since January 2009 when Mr. Obama took office.</br></br>To appreciate how anemic this figure is, remember that there are more than 313 million Americans, and the U.S. population grows by more than two million people every year. So according to one government measure of job growth, the entire U.S. economy during the Obama Administration has not matched the business founded by Mitt Romney even three years after the recession ended.