October 11, 2011
The is the gist of a front page Washington Post article on the jobs numbers that are frequently cited by the oil industry, as well other industries, to justify changes in regulatory policy. This piece is very useful for pointing out that the job numbers that industry uses to push industry policies are often very flimsy.
In fact, in many cases the numbers are even worse than this article implies, since in many cases policies promising big job gains may have no discernible effect on employment whatsoever. Still, this is a very useful piece. Hopefully, Post reporters and others will be more cautious about simply passing along industry job claims in the future without seeking out an independent assessment.
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