Jobs/Economy
All fast facts for Jobs & Economy are from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), and Recovery.gov. They do not represent all of their reports on this subject. Some simply provide historical perspective. Occasionally minor word adjustments may have been made for clarity or to reflect the updated nature of the statement. As always, verify and view statements in their full context as often as possible.
| Concerns that the economic recovery will continue to be slow and protracted have prompted the consideration of fiscal policy actions to spur economic growth and increase employment during the next few years. Three key criteria for evaluating such actions [to stimulate economic growth and employment] are: 1. Timing –- Providing help when it is needed; 2. Cost-effectiveness – Generating a large amount of additional output and employment per dollar cost to the federal budget; 3. Consistently with long-term fiscal objectives – Not worsening the long-run budget outlook.Click here to verify at Page 2 |
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| In initial analyses covering the period from 2009 through 2019, CBO and JCT projected that the 2009 stimulus (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act – ARRA) would increase deficits by $787 billion. Since that time, economic developments and other factors have different in various ways from what CBO anticipated. CBO now estimates that ARRA’s cumulative impact on deficits over the 2009-2019 period will be $831 billion. Click here to verify at Page 8 |
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| After falling by 7.5 million during the recession, employment increased by only about 1 million jobs (or 0.8 percent), on net, between June 2009 and October 2011. Click here to verify at Page 5 | |
| In contrast to its positive near-term macroeconomic effects, the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA, aka the Stimulus) will reduce economic output slightly in the long run, CBO estimates – by between zero and 0.2 percent after 2016. But CBO expects that the legislation will have no long-term effects on employment because the U.S. economy will have a high rate of use of its labor resources in the long run. Click here to verify at Pages 8-9 | |
| The pace of the economic recovery has been slow since the recession ended in June 2009, and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) expects that, under current laws governing taxes and spending, the economy will continue to grow at a sluggish pace over the next two years. That pace of growth partly reflects the dampening effect on economic activity from the higher tax rates and curbs on spending scheduled to occur this year and especially next. Click here to verify at Summary Page |
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