I have to compliment Catherine Rampell of the New York Times for reporting the facts straight without any he said/she said prevaricating. The economy produced more jobs last month than it has since the Census Bureau hired a bunch of temporary workers last spring, but…(emphasis mine)…
Not every sector added jobs. Payrolls at state and local governments, squeezed by revenue shortfalls and a reluctance to raise taxes, fell again in February. Local governments have shed 377,000 jobs since September 2008, when their number of employees last peaked.
Federal employment was flat, but federal employees may also be at risk of significant layoffs, if Republican leaders in Congress get the budget cuts they have been pushing for. Economists at Goldman Sachs and elsewhere have warned that such budget cuts could ripple through the rest of the economy and lead to layoffs in the private sector.
You will hear the Republicans say that all their austerity measures are going to grow the economy and produce jobs. In the short term this is certainly false, as all reputable experts from both the government and the private sector can attest. We’re growing the economy and creating jobs despite significant drag from lost state government jobs. It’s nice to see this fact stated plainly and without contradiction in the newspaper of record.
