Submitted by Fox First at Ten on January 4th
By The Associated Press
U.S. employers have added about 1.84 million jobs in each of the past two years, or about 153,000 a month. While steady, that level of hiring has barely repaired the damage left by the Great Recession.
In the past three years the economy has created only 4.7 million jobs - little more than half the 8.7 million jobs lost in 2008 and 2009.
If job gains continue at the same pace as the past two years, it would take until early 2015 for the U.S. to regain all the jobs it lost since December 2007, when the recession began.
Some economists forecast that hiring may improve slightly this year. Nigel Gault, chief U.S. economist at IHS Global Insight, projects that the economy could gain 2 million positions in 2013.
Here are the total job gains or losses in each of the past 12 years, along with the average monthly changes:
Job growth Annual Monthly average 2012 1,835,000 153,000 2011 1,840,000 153,000 2010 1,027,000 86,000 2009 -5,060,000 -422,000 2008 -3,603,000 -300,250 2007 1,100,000 92,000 2006 2,068,000 172,000 2005 2,498,000 208,000 2004 2,057,000 171,000 2003 84,000 7,000 2002 -545,000 -45,000 2001 -1,761,000 -147,000 2000 1,948,000 162,000
Last year's monthly gain of 153,000 was the same as in 2011. Underneath that stability, however, were some significant swings:
Month, 2012 Job Gains (in thousands) January 275 February 259 March 143 April 68 May 87 June 45 July 181 August 192 September 132 October 137 November 161 December 155
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