Job Losses Bad News For Democrats

U.S. service industries may be recovering, stocks are up, banks are lending again and home prices are holding. But with no improvement in employment, a major part of the recovery is still missing. And that is bad new for Obama and the Democratic party.

According to the Labor Department, if you add in people who have stopped looking for work, or who are underemployed instead of working full time, the effective unemployment rate is a staggering 17%. With such outrageously high unemployment, it's hard for workers to understand how the recession can be deemed over.

It's an important political dynamic as 2010 midterm elections approach. At some point, continued job losses could easily push the economy back into negative territory, for a "double-dip" recession. Rob Shapiro, an economist who was a top official in President Bill Clinton's Commerce Department, sees "substantial, continued job losses" for some time if the government doesn't take more aggressive steps to foster job growth. In the meantime, the Obama administration should "prepare the American people to wait a while for real results," said Shapiro. White House aides concede they missed the mark with their January estimate that the stimulus package would keep unemployment from rising above 8 percent. In a letter to Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House GOP leaders asked, "Where are the jobs?"

That is the same question I'm asking, along with a lot of other unemployed voters. "Where are the jobs?" Obama and Pelosi may well be asking, "Where are the Democrats," after midterm elections.