Job growth is notoriously difficult to predict. And it's even more difficult to identify precisely which jobs will have been created or preserved because of any piece of legislation, such as the stimulus package. As a matter of course, hundreds of thousands of jobs are created and lost every month, maybe more. Especially in today's global economy, it's possible for the economy at large to grow without much in the way of job growth. The United States emerged from recession in November 2001, but as this chart shows, payroll jobs continued to decline through 2002 and 2003. It's quite possible the U.S. economy could emerge from recession later this year but that job losses could continue to mount through 2010.