"So this bill is not only about the health security of America. It's about jobs. In its life it will create four million jobs - 400,000 almost immediately." Then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at the Health Care Summit, February 2010.

Source:  Heritage Foundation.

Hoven's Index for July 21, 2011

Private sector job growth over the 42 months following the beginning of each post-WWII recession:

1948: up 2.6 million (+6.7%)

1953:  up 1.7 million (+3.9%)

1957:  down 0.4 million (-0.9%)

1960:  up 1.5 million (+3.3%)

1969:  up 4.3 million (+7.2%)

1973:  up 3.1 million (+4.8%)

1980:  down 0.2 million (-0.2%)

1981:  up 4.6 million (+6.1%)

1990:  up 2.1 million (+2.3%)

2001:  down 1.4 million (-1.3%)

2007:  down 6.7 million (-5.8%) 

Source:  St. Louis Fed/FRED (USREC and USPRIV series) and author's calculations.

Graph of the Day Archive.