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HOYER: BUSH ADMINISTRATION MORE WORRIED ABOUT SPIN THAN CREATING JOBS

President Bush, Congress Fail to Help Create More Jobs

WASHINGTON, DC – House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer released the following statement regarding the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ announcement that 96,000 jobs were created in the month of September:

“The creation of 96,000 jobs is great news for those Americans who were able to find work in September, although it was disturbing to hear that August job creation was revised down to 128,000 from 144,000.  It will be interesting to see how President Bush tries to spin this number during the second Presidential debate into good news for the American people, when the facts clearly say otherwise.

“If the Bush White House spent as much time working to create jobs as they did spinning the American people on weak jobs numbers, maybe the economy would be doing better.  And if the failed 108th Congress finished its work on a major job-creating transportation bill instead of shutting down to campaign for re-election, maybe the job market would be stronger.

“Unfortunately, the fact is that our economy must create 150,000 jobs just to break even with population growth, so this month’s job growth will do nothing to pull America out of its job market doldrums.  A top employment consulting firm also said this week that employers announced more than 107,000 layoffs in September, which is 41% more than this time last year.  Just yesterday, AT & T and Bank of America announced massive layoffs.

“The continued failure to create enough jobs is very disconcerting.  Although unemployment remains steady, the failure to create jobs means that already stagnant wages will stay down.  And the steady unemployment belies what any American who is out pounding the pavement for a good paying job already knows: good jobs are few and far between.

“President Bush has fallen 4 million jobs short of his promise on job creation.  He can’t dispute those facts so he will try to spin them.  The American people are tired of spin, they just want a President who will craft an economic program that actually spurs economic growth and creates jobs.”

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