Press Releases
Brendan Daly/Nadeam Elshami
202-226-7616
09/05/2008
Pelosi: ‘With Unemployment Rate at Five-Year High, We Must Take Immediate Action to Strengthen Our Economy’
Washington, D.C. -- Speaker Nancy Pelosi today issued the following statement after the Department of Labor released its employment report for August showing a loss of another 84,000 American jobs, and an unemployment rate that climbed to 6.1 percent – the highest since September 2003. The economy has lost jobs for eight straight months, with a total of 605,000 American jobs lost this year:
“The economic policies of President Bush and the Republicans have delivered another blow to American families, as 84,000 more workers lost their jobs last month alone. Today, more than 9 million Americans are without work and millions more are struggling with the high cost of gas, health care and groceries, yet John McCain told Americans who are out of work or who just lost their jobs that another four years of the same failed Bush economic policies are the right solution for them and for America.
“With the unemployment rate at a five-year high, it is clear that we must take immediate action to strengthen our economy. The New Direction Congress will soon act on a second economic stimulus package and a comprehensive energy plan that will create new American jobs, invest in renewables, increase domestic production, make America more energy independent, and break free of the failed Bush economic policies that John McCain and Republicans in Congress have rubber-stamped for far too long.
“Hard-working Americans deserve economic policies that reward their efforts, strengthen their families, and keep the American Dream alive; that is what Democrats are committed to delivering.”
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State of the Bush Economy
• The unemployment rate climbed to 6.1 percent -- the highest level in nearly five years (September 2003).
• America has suffered an eighth straight month of job losses -- 84,000 in August -- totaling 605,000 so far this year.
• The number of Americans looking for work climbed to 9.4 million in August – the highest number since December 1992. Nearly one in five (1.8 million) of those looking for work have been jobless for six months or more.
• Average hourly earnings continue to fail to keep pace with inflation -- up only 3.6 percent over the last year. Rising prices have pushed inflation up to 5.6 percent over the past 12 months.
• Food prices have risen at an annualized rate of 8 percent over the last three months.
• The American people are working harder, but making less even in the face of rising costs of health care, energy, and education. Since 2000, worker productivity is up, but the purchasing power of the typical working age family’s income is down by more than $2,000. As a result, 5.7 million more Americans are living in poverty and 7.2 million more Americans are without health care than in 2000.
• Retail gas prices are at $3.68 a gallon – more than double that of 2001 – after peaking at $4.11 in July. Diesel prices remain high at $4.12 a gallon, more than two times the cost in 2001. In July, the price of a barrel of oil reached a new record of $147 per barrel, more than four times when Bush took office (today it is at $106). And heating costs are expected to reach record levels this winter.
• Meanwhile, oil companies continue to report record profits, with Exxon Mobil posting the largest quarterly profits for an American company in history of nearly $12 billion in the 2nd quarter. Profits of the big five oil companies are projected to be more than $160 billion this year.