private sector jobs: 415,000 gain vs 1.6 million loss.

Private sector jobs: If looking at hiring by businesses, the gap is actually much wider -- the private sector has actually added 415,000 jobs since Obama took office. But it had cut 1.6 million jobs during a comparable period of Bush's first term. The difference is that budget-strapped state and local governments have slashed their staffs over the last four years while they were adding workers when Bush was in office.