June 18, 2012

Jobs and the Economy

 

Going in the Wrong Direction, March and April Job Growth Revised Downward: The job growth for the months of March and April 2012 has been revised downward by a combined 49,000 jobs. In the most recent jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment for March was revised from 154,000 to 143,000, and the change for April was revised from 115,000 to 77,000. The 69,000 jobs added in the month of May were far below market expectations and well short of the 150,000 jobs that BLS says are needed every month just to keep pace with population growth. While the announcement of any new jobs is welcomed, May marks the fourth straight month of slowing job growth.

 

Spending

 

CBO Analysis Shows GOP Budget Will Increase Growth, Current Path Will Reduce It: In March, CBO did an economic analysis of the House Republican budget, the Path to Prosperity (P2P). That analysis showed that the P2P would increase the economy’s total output, as measured by Gross National Product (GNP), relative to the baseline scenario, by as much as 1 percent in 2030, 3 percent in 2040 and a full 6 percent in 2050. In contrast, CBO found that one version of the fiscal status quo—the so-called alternative fiscal scenario (AFS) in which current tax and spending policies are extended indefinitely into the future—would lead to a deterioration in the economy. CBO estimated that the AFS would cause a decline in GNP of as much as 5 percent in 2023, 10 percent in 2030, and 28 percent in 2040.

 

Medicare

 

The President’s Unprecedented Cuts to Medicare Providers:  Former CBO Assistant Director and current AEI scholar, Joe Antos, in his recent testimony to the House Ways and Means Committee Subcommittee on Health, argues “The alternative [to premium support] offered by the ACA is not appealing. The law imposes unprecedented cuts in provider payment rates to generate $850 billion in Medicare savings over the next decade. According to the Medicare actuary, those payment reductions mean that 15 percent of hospitals and other part A providers would lose money on their Medicare patients by 2019. That figure rises to 25 percent in 2030 and 40 percent in 2050.”

 

The Republican Plan for Job Creation and Growth

 

House Republicans have a plan to restore confidence and certainty to the economy and create jobs.  For more information on the House Republican Growth Plan, click here: http://www.gop.gov/indepth/jobs.