For those of you who think Obama has inflated the public sector during his presidency, here's the truth:
Since February 2010, the nation's private employers have added more than 3.9 million jobs, or roughly 164,000 per month. Over the same period, however, some 485,000 government jobs were lost.
But Obama is still throwing bones to the teachers' unions, right? Wrong: "The per-capita employment rate in public education, by far the largest sector of government hiring, is at the lowest level since 1999." In fact:
... the recession caused 41 states to raise state-college tuition and lay off university staff; 30 cut funding for local school districts; 25 cut funding for seniors and people with disabilities; and 30 states cut the availability of health care services. Teachers have been one of the hardest-hit professions in the public sector. Seventy-one percent of school districts reported cuts in state and local funding from last year's budget, 68 percent eliminated positions this year, and 65 percent expect to do so again next year, according to a new survey by the American Association of School Administrators.
And in California, in particular, poorer and majority-minority schools are losing teachers 30 and 60 percent faster than richer and majority-white schools, respectively. As usual, in hard times it's the poor and minorities who suffer more.
By Tony Pugh
April 4, 2012 | McClatchy Newspapers
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