Obama Economy

• Job Growth Slowest Among Post-War Recoveries: According to data from the Minneapolis Federal Reserve, after the same amount of time following a recession, the average job growth in the past 10 recoveries was 6.9 percent. Under President Obama, jobs have grown by just 1.9 percent.

•GDP Growth Revised Down, Trending Down: On May 31 the Bureau Of Economic Analysis announced that the economy grew at a 1.9 percent pace in the first quarter of this year, slower than the 2.2 percent rate initially reported. GDP growth in the first quarter of 2012 was down from the 3 percent growth in fourth quarter of 2011. On an annualized basis, GDP growth in 2011 was 1.7 percent, down from 3 percent in 2010.

•1 in 2 People are Now Poor or Low-Income: According to a December Census Bureau report, nearly half of all Americans are now classified as poor or low-income as a result of the Obama Economy. The 97.3 million Americans who fall into the low-income category combined with the 49.1 million who fall below the poverty line now equal 146.4 million people or 48 percent of the United States population.

•Record Number of Americans on Food Stamps: The number of Americans receiving food stamps as of February 2012 was 46.3 million. Today, 15 percent of Americans receive food stamps, an increase of 44 percent since President Obama took office.

•Half of Recent College Graduates Are Jobless: More than 50 percent of recent college graduates are unemployed. About 1.5 million, or 53.6 percent, of bachelor's degree-holders under the age of 25 last year were jobless or underemployed.

•Ease of Starting a Business in the United States fell from 4th to 13th: According to the World Bank’s Doing Business 2012 report, the United States now ranks 13th in the world in the ease of starting a new business and has been steadily declining since President Obama took office. In 2011, the United States was 8th. In 2009, the United States was ranked 6th. It was 4th in 2008 and 3rd in 2007.

•Economic Growth Lagging Far Behind Historic Recoveries: In an economic failure unprecedented in postwar America, the Bureau of Economic Analysis statistics for the first quarter of 2012 show that 18 quarters after the start of the recession, this recovery has still not matched its pre-recession real per capita GDP level. On average, America's postwar economy has recovered all lost real per capita income by the 6th quarter after the recession’s start—about a year and a half—while this recovery has still not recovered after 18 quarters—over 4 years.

•The American People Know that the President’s Policies are Making the Economy Worse: According to a May 21 NBC/WSJ poll, only 33 percent of respondents believe the economy will get better in the next year, down five points from April and seven points from March. In addition, approval of President Obama’s handling of the economy stands at 43 percent, down two points from last month, his worst showing on this question since December. And just a third of respondents (33 percent) think the nation is headed in the right direction. In a May Washington Post poll, 83 percent of those in the poll rated the state of the economy as “poor” or “not so good,” a much higher portion of negative views than at any other time in the 10 years preceding the recession.

•Total Employment Still Down: While the unemployment rate has fallen in recent months, the actual number of people in the United States with a job has decreased by 322,000 since President Obama took office.

•Percentage of Working Americans at a 30-Year Low: The labor force participation rate, which measures the percentage of able Americans working or looking for work, was at a 32-year low of 63.6 percent in April. Much of the recent decline in the unemployment rate can be attributed to the historic drop in labor force participation as more and more American give up on finding a job.

•Youth Unemployment Worst since the Great Depression: The unemployment rate among youth job seekers between the ages of 16 and 19 was 24.9 percent in April. Youth unemployment has been above 23 percent for 34 months, the longest streak since the Great Depression.

-From Congressman Allen West's newsletter