Dobbs Claims “Very Few Jobs Have Been Lost At The Local, State And Federal Level”

From the April 11 edition of Fox News' America Live:

SHANNON BREAM (guest host): We understand that the president now is going to speak on Wednesday and talk about debt and deficit reduction, and we understand too from White House spokesman Jay Carney that he's going to talk about shared fiscal responsibility. So is it time now for the federal government to make some of those tough sacrifices just like American families are having to make? Maybe not filling some of these positions, not necessarily cutting, but maybe not filling everything that's open now.

DOBBS: Well, I don't see any reason to say, frankly, that this is shared sacrifice. While millions and millions of private sector jobs have been lost over the course of the last four years, very few jobs have been lost at the local, state, and federal level. That is an immunity that defies either a sense of equity or propriety. It just isn't the American way. This is a free enterprise, capitalist economy that has built wealth not only for this great nation but for the entire world. We have got to get our leadership reoriented to prosperity as a principled goal of public policy, Shannon. I mean it's not a difficult thing for these folks. [Fox News, America Live, 4/11/11]

State And Local Government Employment Has Fallen By More Than Half A Million

St. Louis Fed: Local Governments Have Shed Approximately 416,000 Jobs Since 2008. From the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis:

[Federal Reserve Economic Data, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, accessed 4/11/11]

St. Louis Fed: State Governments Have Shed Approximately 90,000 Jobs Since 2008. From the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis:

[Federal Reserve Economic Data, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, accessed 4/11/11]

Income Strategist: While Private Sector Jobs Increase, State, Local Governments Will Cut 20,000 To 30,000 Jobs A Month Through At Least End Of 2011. From a March 5 Wall Street Journal article:

State and local governments, aiming to reduce their budget deficits, cut jobs at an accelerating pace in February.

Even as private employment climbed for the 12th consecutive month in February, states and localities shed a combined 30,000 jobs after cutting 8,000 positions a month earlier, the Labor Department said Friday. The trend is likely to continue as states and cities keep trimming services and payrolls to mend their budget shortfalls.

State and local governments stepped up their pace of cutting positions, such as police officers.

“We won't expect the government cutbacks to reverse any time in the near future,” said Guy LeBas, chief fixed income strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott. “It's going to be a slow leak of 20,000 to 30,000 jobs a month lasting at least until the end of 2011.” [The Wall Street Journal, 3/5/11]

Economist Zandi: State, Local Cuts Could Keep Unemployment From Falling Below 9 Percent By End Of 2011. From a February 4 Bloomberg BusinessWeek article:

President Barack Obama's goal of driving the unemployment rate below 9 percent this year is threatened by state and local budget cuts that are likely to intensify as Federal stimulus money runs out.

Austerity measures may add as much as 0.25 percentage point to the unemployment rate this year, according to Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Analytics Inc.

“This could make the difference between ending 2011 with unemployment above or below 9 percent,” he said. “There's no more serious drag on economic growth than the severe budget cutbacks at the state and local level.”

Reductions in public payrolls will ripple through the economy, slicing revenue at companies that rely on government contracts and depressing spending among those who are thrown out of work, Zandi said. The result could be the loss of 600,000 jobs in the fiscal year that starts July 1, he said. [Bloomberg BusinessWeek, 2/4/11]