Obama has made a poor choice of Jeffrey Immelt as his “Jobs’ Guru,” also known as head of the Council on Jobs and Competitiveness (a new group that replaces the Economic Recovery Advisory Board).

Immelt has said, “It should be our goal [to restore the 2 million jobs lost in the recent recession]…. Restoring manufacturing might to this country should be a high priority.  Because they pull a lot of jobs with them; big companies and small companies work together; the best way to create high-value middle-class jobs is through manufacturing.  So I think it should be a high priority.”

During his tenure as GE‘s CEO (based on an examination of GE’s 2000 and 2009 Annual Reports), Immelt has grown GE’s U.S. jobs by about 3000 overall or an anemic 0.25% per year.  On the positive side, he has helped create 81,000 non-U.S. jobs, a healthy 4.25% per annum pace.

What he says and what he does don’t jibe.  Well, they could jibe if you decrease U.S. labor costs to meet those of Asia… .