http://www.safehaven.com/article-2482.htmWorst Employment Since 1932Before we proceed to what the markets are saying about the current recovery, let us review the latest economic data. With the release of the latest Nonfarm Payroll Employment, we now have the number of jobs LOST, 175,000, during the 4-year Presidential term, 2001-2004. This is the first loss during a single Presidential term since 1929-1932, by far the worst 4-year period in the US history, certainly since the Civil War. The only other 4-year period, not comprising a Presidential term, during which jobs were lost contained two recessions, the Double-Dip recessions of 1980-1982, the worst period of deep recession since the Great Depression.
One of the Largest StimuliThe largest stimulus, fiscal and, or, monetary, as a % of the GDP, over a 4-year period since 1929, took place during the WW II, 1942-1945, which resulted in a 20% gain in employment. Next to the WW II, the three periods with the largest, and comparable, stimuli are 1933-36, 1983-86 and 2001-2004. 1933 was the worst year of Great Depression and there were many programs to create employment during 1933-36 under FDR and I presume that there was growth in Employment during those 4 years. The fiscal stimulus of 1983-86, the Reagan tax cuts and defense spending, created 12 million jobs, a growth of 13% in employment.
2001-4 IS THE FIRST TIME IN HISTORY FOR WHICH WE HAVE DATA DURING WHICH JOBS WERE LOST DESPITE ONE OF THE LARGEST STIMULI IN HISTORY. But for the stimulus we would have lost somewhere between 10-20 million jobs over the 4-year period (the upper figure is lot harder to estimate than the lower figure and could be quite a bit larger due to the snowball effect).