Fox now blaming Obama for job losses that occurred before he was elected
Published
Fox & Friends twice falsely reported that Ohio has lost 400,000 jobs “under the Obama administration,” and advanced the claim that as a result, Obama “has a lot of 'splaining to do.” In fact, the 400,000 figure includes job losses that occurred for two years before Obama took office in the midst of a deep recession.
Fox claims Ohio has lost 400,000 jobs “under the Obama administration”
From the June 16 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends:
CARLSON: President Obama back to Ohio this week, where nearly 400,000 people have lost their jobs during this administration. John Kasich, he's running for governor of that state, well he says the president has a lot of 'splaining to do.
[...]
DOOCY: In your state, where you want to be governor, Ohio under the Obama administration has lost 400,000 jobs. I know he's heading out there in the next week or so. He's got -- he's in a hole there.
KASICH: Well, there isn't any question about it. He's -- It was the first state where he was under 50 percent approval. People, you know, didn't buy into this early. And look, the tragedy now is that people are wondering about his leadership, you know, is he kind of in over his head?
In fact, that figure includes jobs lost before Obama was elected or took office
Republican Governors Association: “Ohio has lost over 400,000 jobs since” January 2007. The “Ted Failed Ohio” campaign from the Republican Governors Association states that “Ohio has lost over 400,000 jobs since Ted Strickland became governor.” Strickland took office in January 2007. Kasich himself has campaigned on the fact that Ohio has lost nearly 400,000 jobs since January 2007, though he did not correct Doocy's claim that all of these job losses occurred since January 2009, “under the Obama administration.”
Ohio lost 393,568 jobs from January 2007 to December 2009, the bulk of which came after the recession began in December 2007. According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment in Ohio fell 393,568 from a peak of 5,661,252 in January 2007 (two years before Obama was inaugurated) to 5,267,594 in December 2009. From seasonally adjusted BLS Ohio employment data:
NBER: Economic activity began to decline in December 2007. The National Bureau of Economic Research announced on December 1, 2008, that based on “economy-wide measures of economic activity,” including domestic production and employment, the recession began in December 2007
Ohio has been gaining jobs in 2010. BLS data indicate that Ohio has added jobs during each month of 2010, through April.