If the first six months don't count...

[ProSense]

6. It isn't

my graph, but the explanation doesn't change the graph. I suppose Benen should have mentioned that in the piece. Still, this is how it appears on any jobs chart. For the period, you'll notice that public sector jobs for each month are more than the total jobs because of cuts to state and local government jobs. In other words, public sector losses have been a drag on the recovery. As Krugman puts it:

<...>

And once you take the effects of public spending on private employment into account, a rough estimate is that the unemployment rate would be 1.5 percentage points lower than it is, or below 7 percent — significantly better than the Reagan economy at this stage.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/05/opinion/krugman-states-of-depression.html