Barack Obama came into office during a total hemorrhaging of the job market, due to the Great Recession that began in December 2007.
Therefore, there continued to be a loss of jobs for the first year of the Obama Administration, but that total lost, 4.2 million, has, as of this month, been totally regained, and now we are in positive territory, after 26 months of job growth, with the unemployment rate down to 8.1 percent, from 8.7 percent six months ago,and a high of 9.7 percent in early 2010.
This recovery is miraculous, and only marred somewhat by the Republican Party in Congress refusing to cooperate with the President on public sector jobs, so therefore the Republican “Bully” Governors have helped to cause the loss of 600,000 public sector jobs in the past two years, after the stimulus money of 2009 ran out, and no more was agreed to.
So while certainly, there is a lot left to do to restore a low unemployment rate, considering the circumstances and the political realities, Barack Obama has a lot to be proud of as he formally begins his reelection campaign on Saturday in Ohio and Virginia!