ROMNEY’S JOB CREATION RECORD IN MASSACHUSETTS WAS ONE OF THE WORST IN THE COUNTRY

During Romney’s Tenure as Governor, Massachusetts’ Economic Performance Was “One Of The Worst In The Country” On “All Key Labor Market Measures.”  [Boston Globe, 7/29/07]

Factcheck.org: “Romney’s Jobs Record Provides Little To Boast About.” [Factcheck.org, 1/11/08]

In Romney’s Four Years As Governor Massachusetts Ranked 47^th Out Of 50 In Jobs Growth. [Marketwatch, 2/23/10]

PolitiFact “No Matter How We Sliced The Data” Massachusetts Was 47^th Out Of 50 States In Job Creation Under Romney. [Politifact, 6/22/11]

UNDER ROMNEY GOVERNMENT JOB GROWTH INCREASED AT A RATE 6 TIMES THAT OF THE PRIVATE SECTOR

Under Romney, State Government Employment Increase At 6 Times The Rate Of Private Sector Job Growth.  [bls.gov, accessed 9/23/11]

Comparing The Last Full Month Before Romney Took Office And The Last Full Month Of Romney’s Administration, Romney’s Massachusetts Ranked 48^th Out Of 50 States In Private Sector Job Growth. [Calculated from bls.gov, accessed 9/23/11]

UNDER ROMNEY WAGES FELL IN MASSACHUSETTS

Under Romney The Wages Of The Average Worker In Massachusetts Fell By Nearly 2 Percent.  [Boston Globe, 7/29/07]

ROMNEY INCREASED SPENDING

State Spending Under Romney Increased By 6.5% Annually.  [New York Times, 12/31/07]

Factcheck.org: It’s “Correct” That Romney Proposed 8% Higher Spending Per Person In Massachusetts. [Factcheck.org, 10/12/07]

ROMNEY RAISED TAXES ON INDIVIDUALS AND BUSINESS

Romney’s Raised Fees And Taxes By Between $740-$750 Million A Year. [Boston Globe, 9/27/06]

• Factcheck.org: Romney’s Fee And Tax Increases Were “Between $740 And $750 Million Per Year.” [Factcheck.org, 1/31/08]
• Romney Raised Fees As Governor; Romney Increased Fees By $400 Million And Raised Corporate Tax Revenue By $300 Million. [Vennochi, Boston Globe, 10/11/07]
•  President Of The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation: “It’s Straightforward... He Raised Corporate Taxes.” [Bergen County Record, 12/7/07]
• Romney’s Third Round Of Business Tax Hikes Were Cut In Half After Democrats Balked “Amid Protests From Some Of The State’s Leading Business Groups.” [Patriot Ledger, 1/26/08]

MASSACHUSETTS TAX BURDEN WENT UP UNDER ROMNEY

During Romney’s Tenure The Massachusetts Tax Burden Increased From 10% To 10.6% Of Per Capita Income. [Boston Globe, 6/29/07]

• Factcheck.org: The Massachusetts Tax Burden Went Up Under Romney From 5.93% To 6.57%. [Factcheck.org, 10/12/07]
• State & Local Tax Burden Increased 6.5 Percent During The Romney Administration. [The Tax Foundation, 8/7/08]]

ROMNEY CAME INTO OFFICE AND LEFT WITH A SIMILAR DEFICIT

Factcheck.org: Romney’s Claim To Have Closed A $3 Billion Budget Gap Is “Misleading” As The Gap Was Closer To $1.2 Billion. [Factcheck.org, 9/6/07]

Romney Made The Economy A Central Part Of His 2008 Campaign But “Unemployment Is Still Relatively High” In Massachusetts And Romney Left A $1.3 Billion Budget Gap. [New York Times, 3/16/07]

President Obama’s Job Creation Record

REALITY: OBAMA’S POLICIES HAVE LED TO THE CREATION OF MORE THAN 3.1 MILLION PRIVATE SECTOR JOBS WITH POSITIVE JOB GROWTH FOR THE LAST 22 MONTHS

The U.S. Economy Has Added More Than 3.1 Million Private Sector Jobs In The Last 22 Months. [data.bls.gov, accessed 1/6/2012]

Private Sector Job Growth Has Continued For 22 Consecutive Months. [data.bls.gov, accessed 1/6/2012]

New York Times: “Manufacturing Is A Surprising Bright Spot In The U.S. Economy.” [New York Times, 1/5/2012]

New York Times: “Until Last Year, There Had Not Been A Single Year When Manufacturing Employment Rose Since 1997.” [New York Times, 1/5/2012]

The Manufacturing Sector Added 334,000 Jobs From December 2009 Through December 2011. [data.bls.gov, 1/6/2012]

The Manufacturing Sector Expanded For The 29^th Consecutive Month Through December 2011. [ISM Report On Business, 1/3/2012]

REALITY: ROMNEY’S CLAIM ABOUT JOB LOSSES UNDER OBAMA HAS BEEN CALLED “MISLEADING” AND “INDEFENSIBLE”

FactCheck.org: Romney’s Claim About Job Losses Under Obama “Is Misleading.”   “Romney has taken to saying that he created more than 100,000 net jobs through his work in the private sector, and more jobs as governor than President Obama has created since taking office. But the first claim is unproven, and the second is misleading… as usual after recent recessions, businesses (and state and local governments) continued to shed jobs long after the recession ended and business began to turn up. The job slump continued for Obama’s first full year in office and finally hit bottom in February 2010. Since that bottom, the nation has added nearly 2.7 million jobs.” [Factcheck.org, 1/5/12]

Krugman: “Indefensible” To Claim Obama Caused Job Losses From The Recession. “To claim that Obama caused the job loss is indefensible.” [New York Times, “The Conscience Of A Liberal” Blog, 1/3/12]

Greg Sargent: “It Is Not Debatable To Claim That The Overall Net Job Loss Number Romney Cites Is A Fair Measure Of The Success or Failure Of Obama’s Policies.”   ““Romney’s claim that two million jobs were lost under the Obama presidency is based on the idea that there’s been a net loss of jobs since he took office. In other words, Romney is taking into account the fact that the economy continued hemorrhaging jobs at a furious rate after Obama took office — before Obama’s stimulus passed. But the figures show that once it became law, monthly job loss declined over time, and turned around in the spring of 2010, after which the private sector added jobs for over 20 straight months, totaling around 2.2 million of them.  You can debate whether the stimulus underperformed. You can debate whether the stimulus is the reason the economy did add private sector jobs. You can argue that public sector jobs loss should be factored in. But it is not debatable to claim that the overall net jobs loss number Romney cites is a fair measure of the success or failure of Obama’s policies.” [Washington Post, “The Plum Line” blog, 1/3/12]