No-- a number of the 2001 tax cuts went into effect immediately, yet the drop in hours worked continued for two more years.  What is remarkable is how the drop in hours appears to be on a solid descent for the first few years of the Bush administration with no indication of the tax cuts doing anything -- other than explode the deficit.

To me it looks like a usual rebound from a recession. In other words, the rebound is proceeding as one would expect with or without the tax cuts. Perhaps slower, I don't know. What is interesting is that the stock market seems to have enjoyed "robust" growth in the same period. Possibly that isn't unusual either. From what I read, however, it may be significant that multinational corporate business profits have soared with no apparent relation to job growth or productivity, and certainly not wages. That's globalization for you.

One further observation about globalization. Peter Beinart has written about the consequences of globalization, suggesting that (if I read him correctly) among those consequences is the steadily rising tide of terrorism. Social entities, like economic entities, export what they "do best" (have the most expertise in). The US is a net importer, I think - correct me if I'm wrong, of goods and services. Our most preferred export (by other nations and peoples) is our culture, our American/Western way of life. That is what radical Islamists evidently hate most, since they are so undefended against it. So, if I accept the parity economic import/export trade paradigm, I should expect a similar parity in social/cultural transactions. We export our culture, radical Islamists export terrorism.

I'm pretty certain the above perspective is no news to anybody, any more than the dissociation of jobs, productivity and wages from profits in the economic recovery. My point is it's so easy to forget that international social/political trade has gotten unmoored from economic trade. Terrorist leaders, at any rate, appear to recognize and appreciate the social/political/(military) opportunities of the new paradigm; they get it. Why haven't our political leaders? Our people? Our American way of doing things?

Just a thought for discussion. I'm beginning to perceive that our way of life may have consequences for us that we are seriously unprepared for. Question for me is, what do we do about it?

No no no, you forget, the effects of anything a Republican president does are delayed until something good happens.

Much like how economic prosperity under Clinton was because of Reagan and the Bush Sr recession the fault of Carter.

This is AGGREGATE data; what it means is that lots of people are working long hours without vacations, while lots of others are working too few hours to make ends meet, meaning they can't afford medical care, much less taking a vacation.

The point is that the unemployment figure can disguise a lot of bad part-time jobs if you don't look at the total aggregate hours worked.   In the ideal, if work was averaged out, we might all be better off with fewer hours worked, but it's not.  We have a very unbalanced mix of overwork and underemployment.

To put the graph in political perspective note that Bush was re-elected in Nov 2004 when total hours worked were well below Nov 2000