Jobs. Are We Having Fun Yet?

In Slate Daniel Gross analyzes why Americans don't feel better about the job market when Bush brags about creating 1.4 million jobs. According to the U.S. Department of Labor the country had an employment–to-population ratio (that's the percentage of Americans over the age of 16 who have a job) of 64.4% in January of 2001 when Bush took office. But in May of 2004, that ratio stood at only 62.2%. What should we make of this? If the ratio were still at 64.4%, with our current population of 293 million, there would be nearly 4.8 million more Americans employed. Click here, check the third box (Civilian Labor Force Participation Rate) then hit "retrieve data." For good graphical job formation data, try Job Watch.