[Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics]

POTUS: Millions of jobs had already been lost to the recession before I was sworn into office. Another 800,000 would be lost in the month of January. We’d later learn that our economy had shrunk by an astounding 6.4 percent in the first quarter of 2009, and economists from across the political spectrum warned that if dramatic action was not taken to break the back of the recession, the United States could spiral into another depression. MORE

RELATED: Philadelphia and Camden will be sharing $23 million from a federal government to extend, connect and create bicycle and pedestrian paths in both areas. This means jobs and green mobility in Philadelphia, said Andrew Stober, director of strategic initiatives for the mayor’s office of transportation. “It will mean jobs for the city,” Stober told NBCPhiladelphia.com. “Engineering jobs, design jobs, construction jobs.” Philadelphia will be getting $17.2 million of the grant, while the remaining $5.8 million is going to the Cooper’s Ferry Development Association in Camden, Stober said. The network of paths will connect the two cities, as well as many areas in the Eastern Pennsylvania and South Jersey region. MORE

[Illustration by ALEX FINE]

DAILY NEWS: Federal records show that more than a billion dollars from President Obama’s $787 billion economic-stimulus program has been targeted for Philadelphia. But the typical job created here is just as likely to require a lab coat as a hard hat, as much of the money has gone for university research projects. Meanwhile, city government, which has been financially ravaged by the recession, has gotten relatively little help from the stimulus program, and then mostly in indirect ways, like payments to citizens that bump tax revenues, or money to accelerate already-planned capital projects. In the main, Mayor Nutter and his team have been left struggling to maintain basic city services on their own. But perhaps the biggest disappointment is one that afflicts the stimulus program everywhere: It takes so long for federal money to get where it’s intended that much of the impact hasn’t been felt. So far, roughly 3,500 jobs are credited locally to the stimulus as of Sept. 30, based on data provided to the government by local agencies and Daily News reporting. Not exactly a giant number in a city with an estimated labor force of 659,000. MORE