IN THE NEWS

Hoyer: Slight Increase in Jobs Is No Reason to Pronounce “Mission Accomplished”

WASHINGTON, DC – House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) released the following statement this morning regarding November’s unemployment report and the Bush Administration’s failure to articulate a plan to create jobs for American workers:

“The jobs gain in November is certainly good news, but it provides no basis for the Bush Administration to pronounce ‘Mission Accomplished’ when it comes to sluggish job growth.

“The economy has to create 130,000 jobs a month just to keep pace with population growth, and yet we failed to do that again in November, adding just 57,000 jobs.  What’s even more disconcerting is the fact that the economy lost 17,000 manufacturing jobs in November – the 39th straight month of manufacturing job losses.

“The bottom line is, President Bush inherited the strongest economy in a generation and over the last three years he has presided over an economy that has lost more than 3 million jobs. 

The President and Republicans in Congress promised the American people that the economy would gain 306,000 new jobs each month once their tax package was enacted.  Well, where are the jobs?  Nearly 9 million Americans are unemployed today and 2 million have been out of work for more than six months.  Another 1.5 million have been unemployed so long that they’re not even counted in the unemployment figures.

“In my home state of Maryland alone, we have lost over 20,000 manufacturing jobs since President Bush moved into the White House.

“Barring an economic miracle, President Bush will finish his four-year term with a negative job creation record, the first since the Great Depression.  And perhaps what’s most depressing of all is that this president has no plan whatsoever to help create jobs beyond pats on the back to America’s unemployed at his campaign events.”

###