Today's Employment Report: Since Jan. 2010, -500k Government Jobs, +2.5 Million Private Jobs

Scott Grannis points out today that "One of the healthiest features of this recovery continues: the public sector continues to lose jobs—about 600K since the recovery began. This is the most extended and the largest decline of public sector jobs since the 1980-82 recession. It is contributing to the unusually high and sticky unemployment rate, of course, but this is a good problem to have since the public sector had grown like Topsy in the years leading up to the last recession and needed to be cut back. A smaller public sector will eventually make it easier for the more-efficient private sector to grow." 

Scott also comments that today's employment report "refutes (as have lots of numbers of late) any notion that the economy is slipping into another recession."  

Likewise, Brian Wesbury and First Trust Portfolio comment today that "Investors have been grossly misled about the odds of a recession."

MP: The chart above displays monthly changes in private sector and government jobs starting in January 2007, and shows that since January 2010 government payrolls have contracted by 500,000 jobs while private sector employment has increased by more than 2.5 million jobs.