The Labor Department announced today that 125,000 jobs were lost in June, in part due to 225,000 temporary census jobs ending, leaving a gain in private sector employment of only 83,000 jobs. The unemployment rate lowered slightly from 9.7% to 9.5%, in part because 652,000 people stopped looking for work. President Obama claimed "we are heading in the right direction" when he addressed the unemployment report in a short speech on the runway tarmac before boarding Air Force One to go to West Virginia for Sen. Richard Byrd's funeral. Obama added, "Make no mistake, we are headed in the right direction." He admitted the the increase in available jobs has been slow. He then proceeded to announce a several government efforts to fund jobs.Reuters writes today, “Employment fell for the first this year in June as thousands of temporary census jobs ended and private hiring grew less than expected, dealing a blow to President Barack Obama who has identified job creation as a key priority.” Politico reports, “The U.S. economy created a modest 83,000 private sector jobs in June, adding to concern that the economic recovery is tepid at best . . . . The unemployment rate has remained near a politically perilous 10 percent in what increasingly looks like a largely jobless recovery, if it is a recovery at all. The economy is making very limited headway in replacing the nearly 8 million jobs lost since the recession began following the 2008 credit crisis and banking sector meltdown.”
The Heritage Foundation is identifying that a "weak economy and failed policies are keeping Obama's job deficit high." The identify that today's DOL estimates "confirms once again that the $862 billion Obama stimulus legislation — as well as all the subsequent budget-busting legislation Congress has enacted under the rubric of “jobs” bills—has failed, as expected.: Also, "the weak jobs data means the Obama jobs deficit (the difference between current employment and the jobs Obama promised to create by the end of 2010) now stands at almost 7.4 million workers."
Of course, this in just weeks after Vice President Joe Biden announced that the White House is calling this “Recovery Summer,” despite unemployment remaining high and anemic private sector job growth. And this is despite the $862 billion stimulus bill that Obama signed last year, which Democrats said would create 3-4 million jobs and prevent the unemployment rate from exceeding 8%.
Nor have the subsequent economic policies of the Obama administration been much help. In fact, The Washington Post reported last week, “The chairman of the Business Roundtable, an association of top corporate executives that has been President Obama's closest ally in the business community, accused the president and Democratic lawmakers Tuesday of creating an ‘increasingly hostile environment for investment and job creation.’ Ivan G. Seidenberg, chief executive of Verizon Communications, said that Democrats in Washington are pursuing tax increases, policy changes and regulatory actions that together threaten to dampen economic growth and ‘harm our ability . . . to grow private-sector jobs in the U.S.’” And even liberal New York Times columnist Bob Herbert wrote Monday that Obama and Democrats “did not focus on jobs, jobs, jobs as their primary mission.” Instead, they have pursued unaffordable job-killing measures like the costly health care bill and wrong-headed proposals like a national energy tax.
As Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said today, “The two things that are growing fastest in this Democrat economy are the size of the federal government and the crushing burden of the national debt. While Americans are working harder and living with less, Washington is saddling them with even more government and insurmountable debt. When America truly begins creating lasting private sector jobs that help our economy grow, it will be despite the government, not because of it.”
And House republican Leader John Boehner added today, "How much longer are we going to continue with this disastrous spending spree that is scaring the hell out of the American people and piling debt on our kids and grandkids? Instead of whining and making excuses, President Obama should stop turning his back on small businesses, start listening to the American people, and work with Republicans to put people back to work. Taxpayers have had enough of Obamanomics: they want Washington to get out of their way and out of their pocket. Our economy will ultimately recover, but it will do so because of the hard work and entrepreneurship of the American people. Economists say we need to cut spending now to put people back to work, and Republicans have offered better solutions to do just that."
It looks like the “Obama Recovery Summer” has been delayed!
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