Of course it depends on where you live, but overall job creation is on the rise.
Job creation is happening at a faster rate than during previous recessions, more good news for the White House and congressional Democrats who have spent the past two years defending their policies as the economy has slowly recovered.
A Joint Economic Committee state-by-state analysis released Wednesday finds that jobs are returning faster compared with previous recessions despite greater overall job losses across all 50 states. ...The Hill
If you're an Obama supporter this is no surprise. In spite of Republican effort to limit progress, his economic decisions are beginning to show real results. Obama's political prospects for 2012 are improving daily.
The economy is showing positive signs of growth heading into 2011 with the index of leading economic indicators increasing 1.1 percent in November, the biggest jump since March, when the index jumped 1.4 percent, according to Conference Board's report released last week.
Consumer and holiday spending also are looking good and industrial production and homebuilding are showing signs of life, all of which bode well for the sluggish labor market.
Economists are looking at the tax-cut compromise and expressing some optimism. The Hill, again, has a round-up.
Mark Zandi of Moody’s Economy.com estimated that the tax-cut deal would increase gross domestic product growth by one percentage point to 4 percent next year. He predicted that the deal would add 2.6 million jobs and bring unemployment “well below” 9 percent.
Zandi said that he was not prepared to estimate the economic effects of deep spending cuts without seeing the details first, but after the middle of 2011, he said, recovery should be strong enough to withstand reduced federal purchasing power.
If Republicans go after grants to state and local governments, however, that could cause some economic damage, Zandi said. State aid from the 2009 stimulus act is set to dry up by July, so any further cuts could cause massive and sudden downsizing at the state level, he argued.
Joel Prakken of Macroeconomic Advisers has estimated that the tax-cut compromise will speed the reduction in unemployment by bringing 2011 unemployment down to 8.9 percent, compared to the 9.3 percent level it would have reached without the package.
Prakken said the possibility of deep spending cuts could have an effect on the recovery. But he also noted that, because Republicans will not have a chance to enact cuts until March, the House GOP would be nearly halfway through 2011 by the time it tried to reduce $100 billion in spending. The party would need to make cuts twice as deep to get the spending figure down to 2008 levels, and “that is really unlikely to happen,” he said.
A compromise plan to reduce the federal deficit could emerge early next year in the Senate. A key adviser to that effort said spending cuts, while economically risky, are better than allowing the debt to grow unabated.
Maya MacGuineas of the New America Foundation, who has been working with a bipartisan group of senators on deficit-cutting legislation to be introduced next year, said that while cuts in 2011 are not ideal, there is enough waste in the budget to include them without hurting the recovery.
The Senate legislation is to be based on a report from the president’s debt commission. That plan embodies the view that making deep cuts in 2011 would be premature, as it recommends starting reductions in 2012 with larger cuts coming in 2012.
Republican pollster Jon McHenry said the tax-cut package is “definitely good for the president,” especially because if tax rates had risen suddenly in January, it would have been damaging to the economy. McHenry also noted that agreeing with the GOP to cut spending will help Obama with independent voters.
