By By Carl Chancellor
December 10, 2009
Just in time for the Holidays there is some good news for those concerned about America’s jobless rate.
December started out with the President hosting a White House – Jobs and Economic Growth Forum, finally shifting the Washington spotlight from health and banking reform to the equally pressing issue of unemployment.
On the heels of the White House jobs forum came the government’s newest employment figures that reported 11,000 jobs were lost in November, the smallest monthly number since the recession began and far less than the 125,000 expected losses. In the prior three months payroll job losses had averaged 135,000 a month, according to the Labor Department.
In addition, the Labor Department reported the unemployment rate fell modestly, from 10.2 percent to 10 percent.
Upon hearing the latest numbers out of Labor, President Obama said “the trend line right now is good.” But with 15 million Americans still out of work the President was quick to add that “trends don’t pay rent or college tuition, trends don’t buy groceries."
“We’ve got to actually grow jobs and get America back to work as quickly as we can,” the President continued.
During the jobs summit the President outlined a number of steps aimed at spurring job creation.
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New initiative for home weatherization dubbed “cash for caulkers” to leverage hiring in construction and manufacturing
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Boost infrastructure spending to states
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Tax credit for hiring new workers
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Use excess Troubled Asset Relief Program funds as a pool of jobs money
The use of a portion of the $700 billion in TARP funds used to bailout Wall Street is an intriguing notion. It is estimated that more than $200 billion could be tapped for a jobs bill. However, the Republicans have already announced their opposition for using excess TARP money for anything other than paying down the national debt.
The President stopped short of proposing the kind of direct federal public works jobs that were created in the 1930s.
So what will the new year hold for the economy?
Based on the fact that the economy shed only 11,000 jobs in November and not the expected 125,000, some economist are forecasting a significant jobs recovery in 2010.
We will just have to wait and see.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/
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