Recession continues for Main Street - may cost Obama election

It's been repeated by economists for months - the recession is over. But tell that to the unemployed on Main Street. The US is now in the midst of the longest jobs recession in history.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The previous jobs recession record was 47 months, and it only saw unemployment climb to 6.3 percent. However, the labor market today must add at least 10 million new jobs before the country can say the unemployed have returned to work. 

In addition to the jobs recession, other signs of trouble persist. Since the first quarter of 2006, the GDP hasn't risen more than 4 percent in any subsequent quarter.

Although the economy is technically in a state of expansion, which began in mid-2009, the best quarter has seen only 3.8 percent growth. 

February was a good month for the jobs economy, with 227,000 jobs added over an expectation of 206,000, however the overall recovery remains jobless. Worse, many of the new jobs are part-time, or offer low pay without benefits, leaving workers in only a marginally improved state than unemployed. 

The jobs economy is important, and more important than the overall economy in an election year. As Obama endeavors to earn reelection, one of the leading issues on the campaign trail has been, and will continue to be, jobs. 

And with the election shaping up to be a very close run, Obama will need to do a lot better job on job creation if he wants to ensure he has the votes he needs to win. 

By way of example, when the jobs economy was lagging in 1991, the eventual improvement still  wasn't enough to reelect George Bush. And if too little changes between now and November, Obama may find himself facing the same fate as President George Bush Sr. 

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