Recent Expansion Shows Weakest Job Growth in 40 Years?

Via email, from Hale Stewart. If his analysis is correct, and we're coming off the weakest job expansion in 40 years, then the US economy is rather vulnerable and not so very resilient, should the fall of the housing market have a real effect on consumer confidence, coupled with inflationary pressure:

From the BLS:

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 113,000 in July, and the unemployment rate rose to 4.8 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Job gains occurred in several service-providing industries, including professional and business services, health care, and food services. Employment also rose in mining. Average hourly earnings rose by 7 cents, or 0.4 percent, in July

So, once again the official number comes in low. This has been a consistent trend for this entire expansion. But how does this expansion stack up? Maybe it's really a good recovery from a historical perspective.

Well - no. From a historical perspective, this expansion has the worst record of job creation in 40 years.

Below are the beginning and ending dates for every economic expansion since 1961. I have not included the first expansion after 1981 because of the second contraction which occurred shortly after the end the first recession. In addition, I have included the beginning number of establishment jobs, the end number of establishment jobs, total jobs gained and the compound rate of establishment job growth for each expansion. The information comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics website.

2/61 - 12/69
Beginning number of jobs: 53,556,000
Ending number of jobs: 71,240,000
Total Jobs Created: 17,684,000
Compound rate of establishment job growth: 3.283%

11/70 - 11/73
Beginning number of jobs: 70,409,000
Ending number of jobs: 77,909,000
Total Jobs Created: 7,500,000
Compound rate of establishment job growth: 3.43%

3/75 - 1/80
Beginning number of jobs: 76,649,000
Ending number of jobs: 90,800,000
Total Jobs Created: 14,151,000
Compound rate of establishment job growth: 3.56%

11/82 - 7/90
Beginning number of jobs: 88,770,000
Ending number of jobs: 109,773,000
Total Jobs Created: 21,003,000
Compound rate of establishment job growth: 2.8%

3/91 - 3/01
Beginning number of jobs: 108,542,000
Ending number of jobs: 132,504,000
Total Jobs Created: 23,962,000
Compound rate of establishment job growth: 2.01%

11/01 - ?
Beginning number of jobs: 130,883,000
Ending number of jobs: 135,343,000
Total Jobs Created: 4,460,000
Compound rate of establishment job growth: .71%

Notice there are two expansions of shorter duration that created 1.7 times and 3.2 times the number of establishment jobs as the recent expansion.

Because all of these expansions lasted various lengths of time, the compound rate of job growth is the best way to compare one expansion to another.