The Virginia Democratic Party's attack on Governor Bob McDonnell’s job creation included this line: "Despite the governor's slick photo-ops and self congratulatory press releases, the reality is we have made no progress on jobs since he took office."
So, is that right?
PolitiFact Virginia did some digging. Here's what the researchers found.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the first full month of McDonnell's term, February of 2010, there were 3,595,600 jobs in Virginia. In June of this year that number was up to 3,643,800 jobs. That’s an increase of 48,200 jobs.
Let's look at another statistic: the jobless rate. When McDonnell came into office Virginia's unemployment rate was 7.2 percent. In July of 2011, it was 6 percent. That's a decrease of 1.2 percent during McDonnell's 18-months in office.
A University of Virginia economist tells PolitiFact Virginia that job growth isn't "impressive".
Terry Rephann said, "Even 40,000 in a (state) economy of this size is not really enormous job growth. But that's the nature of the economic recovery that we're in."
Still, there has been job growth and reduction in the unemployment rate since McDonnell took office during a shaky time for the economy. As a result, PolitiFact Virginia's verdict on the Virginia Democratic Party's claim: False.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement