How to keep track of Bush's Record on Unemployment

[Barney Gumble]

The U.S. economy is in dire straits, undergoing a lengthy downturn, high unemployment, a fall in real wages, declining family incomes, and extensive job losses. Obviously, economic policy should be geared to job creation. The Bush Administration’s plan makes many important choices with long-lasting consequences: spending priorities (defense, homeland security, education, health, state fiscal relief, etc.), the course of fiscal deficits into the future, the distribution and timing of tax cuts, and the economic role of government. It is important to gauge whether this economic policy will keep the promises regarding job generation made by the Bush Administration. The administration has projected that its growth plan will create 1.4 million jobs in addition to the 4.1 million jobs the economy was already expected to generate. The success of the Bush “Jobs and Growth Plan” can be fairly judged by whether, in fact, 5.5 million jobs are created by the end of 2004.

Every citizen can grade the Bush policy by checking the nonfarm payroll employment series each month.

1. Any month that adds at least 344,000 jobs to the economy can be marked a success.

2. And every month payrolls grow by less than 257,000 jobs, the policy is generating fewer jobs than would have been created without the “jobs and growth” plan.

http://www.epinet.org/content.cfm/webfeatures_viewpoints_jobs_growth_testimony