Politics

July Jobs Report - We Must Do More, We Need to Make It In America

By Karina

Today, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported we lost 131,000 jobs in July, in large part due to the 143,000 temporary Census workers completing their work. But July marked the seventh straight month of private sector job growth with 71,000 private sector jobs created last month (and 630,000 private sector jobs this year). That?s a sharp turnaround from the end of the Bush administration, when we were losing nearly 750,000 jobs a month. At the recession?s peak, job losses totaled 8.4 million?the most since World War II as a proportion of total payrolls:

American manufacturing is the largest single contributor the U.S. economy, generating about 12% of our GDP, and is central to our economic recovery. Thanks to the recovery efforts by the Obama Administration and the Democratic-led Congress, America?s manufacturing base has now grown for 11 straight months?with more than 180,000 manufacturing jobs created over the last seven months:

House Democrats will continue to work to increase American manufacturing and create new, good-paying American jobs through our “Make it in America” agenda?promoting American competitiveness, innovation, and exports. Next week, the House will be voting on a bill to close tax loopholes that encourage big corporations to ship American jobs overseas. The legislation will also keep teachers in the classroom and police officers on the beat instead of in the unemployment line, saving and creating 290,000 American jobs (140,000 teacher jobs saved and 150,000 jobs created or saved, including police officers, firefighters and nurses).

Speaker Pelosi on today’s job report:

This jobs report shows private employers and businesses taking the lead in our economic recovery ? and a sharp turnaround from the 700,000 jobs per month lost under President Bush ? despite Congressional Republicans fighting against the economic recovery every step of the way. ??

We must do more, and our ?Make It In America? agenda will strengthen a manufacturing sector already on the rise, increasing our competitiveness and creating jobs so we can lead the world economy. The House has already passed legislation to strengthen our small businesses, which is now being blocked by Senate Republicans. We must pass this legislation to assist this vital backbone of our nation?s economy.??

Today?s report shows our teachers, police officers, firefighters, and nurses are still feeling the worst of the Bush recession ? while Republican leaders demean them as ?special interests? and try to block legislation that will grow our economy. Democrats will return next week to save or create hundreds of thousands of jobs for our teachers, nurses, firefighters and police officers ? and close loopholes that allow corporations to ship American jobs overseas.? This is critical as over the last three months, state and local governments have cut more than 46,000 jobs in education.

Every day, Congressional Republicans side with special interests over the public interest, and pledge to take us back to the ?exact same agenda? that got us into this mess in the first place. Democrats are standing up for a New Direction. We are fighting for our middle class. We are not going back to the same failed Bush policies that cost us millions of jobs.

Full post as published by The Gavel on August 06, 2010 (boomark / email).