America’s Forgotten Workers Are Still Waiting for Dems to Stop Destroying Jobs

April 6, 2012

Unemployment Remains Sky-High and Millions of Long-Term Unemployed Are Becoming Discouraged But Democrats Keep Pushing Job-Destroying Policies

As the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases new unemployment data this morning, another recent report suggests the economy has a steep uphill climb to regain the 15 million lost jobs from the recession and three years of the Democrats’ failed policies.
Yet other economic projections forecast that the economy may take up to a decade to recover the lost jobs, and some experts even fear that the economy may settle at a new normal of high unemployment.
Amidst this pessimistic outlook on the U.S. job market, the duration of joblessness for America’s forgotten workers is reaching record highs as millions wait in hope of jobs that may never come if the Democrats continue pushing their job-destroying agenda.

As the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases new unemployment data this morning, another recent report suggests the economy has a steep uphill climb to regain the 15 million lost jobs from the recession and three years of the Democrats’ failed policies:

“THE OBAMA JOBS GAP IS UP TO 15 MILLION MISSING JOBS”: “A much-needed reminder that despite the recent upturn in the jobs market, there is still an awfully big employment hole to fill, as JPMorgan economist James Glassman points out…

“In other words, to restore the job market to the state it was in back in 2007, before the recession, would require the creation of 14.8 million jobs in today’s terms, a daunting task to say the least.”(James Pethokoukis, “The Obama Jobs Gap is up to 15 million missing jobs,” The American’s Enterprise Blog, April, 2, 2012)

Yet other economic projections forecast that the economy may take up to a decade to recover the lost jobs, and some experts even fear that the economy may settle at a new normal of high unemployment:

DEMOCRATS PREDICTED UNEMPLOYMENT WOULD ALREADY BE ABOUT 6 PERCENT IF WE PASSED THEIR $800 BILLION STIMULUS: (“Revisiting Unemployment Projections,” e21, 6/7/2011)

CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE SAYS UNEMPLOYMENT WILL RETURN TO 5.3%, BUT NOT UNTIL 2021: (Annalyn Censky, “Unemployment Rate: How Low Can It Go?”, CNN Money, 4/4/2012)

ECONOMISTS AT GOLDMAN SACHS: NEW NORMAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE MAY BE “6% AT BEST”: (Annalyn Censky, “Unemployment Rate: How Low Can It Go?”, CNN Money, 4/4/2012)

12.8 MILLION AMERICANS REMAIN UNEMPLOYED AND 42.6% HAVE BEEN JOBLESS FOR 6+ MONTHS: (Annalyn Censky, “Unemployment Rate: How Low Can It Go?”, CNN Money, 4/4/2012)

Amidst this pessimistic outlook on the U.S. job market, the duration of joblessness for America’s forgotten workers is reaching record highs as millions wait in hope of jobs that may never come if the Democrats continue pushing their job-destroying agenda:

AVERAGE MEAN DURATION OF UNEMPLOYMENT AT RECORD HIGH:(“Average (Mean) Duration of Unemployment,” Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, 3/9/2012)

LAST JOBS REPORT SHOWED UNDEREMPLOYMENT RATE AT 14.9%: (Table A-15, “Alternative Measures of Labor Underutilization,” Bureau of Labor Statistics, 3/8/2012)

“8.3% UNEMPLOYMENT EXTENDS LONGEST STREAK OF 8.0%+ UNEMPLOYMENT RATE SINCE GREAT DEPRESSION”: (Tweet from James Pethokoukis, The American, 3/9/2012)

49 MONTHS SINCE U.S. HIT PEAK EMPLOYMENT IN JANUARY 2008: “But America remains mired in the longest jobs recession since the Great Depression. It’s been 49 months since the U.S. hit peak employment in January 2008. And with nonfarm payrolls still 5.33 million below their old high, the jobs slump will continue for several more years.” (Ed Carson, “Jobs Recession Now 49 Months: Longest Since WWII,” Investor’s Business Daily, 3/9/2012)

WHILE DEMOCRATS CONTINUE TO RAM THROUGH JOB-DESTROYING POLICIES:

OBAMA HELD PHOTO OP IN OKLAHOMA TO CLAIM HE WILL “PUSH AGENCIES ON KEYSTONE PERMIT”… WHICH HE BLOCKED, REPEATEDLY:(“Obama to Push Agencies on Keystone Permit,” Reuters, 3/21/2012)

20,000: THE NUMBER OF SHOVEL-READY JOBS FROM KEYSTONE PIPELINE BLOCKED BY OBAMA: (Editorial, “Keystone Cop-Out,” The Wall Street Journal, 11/11/2011)

130,000 JOBS: THE LONG-TERM JOBS IMPACT OF THE KEYSTONE PIPELINE, ALSO BLOCKED BY OBAMA: “Many of those 20,000 jobs on the construction of the pipeline would have been filled by skilled union members. Eventually, the completed pipeline was expected to result in as many as 130,000 jobs, many of them on the upper Texas Coast, where the heavy oil would be refined into 700,000 barrels of oil daily.” (Editorial, “Keystone Pipeline is the Wrong Call,” The Houston Chronicle, 11/11/2011)

UNITED MINE WORKERS CHIEF: “LISA JACKSON SHOT US IN WASHINGTON”: “The coal industry will suffer the same fate as Osama bin Laden under new climate regulations proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency, the head of the United Mine Workers of America said this week.

“ ‘The Navy SEALs shot Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan and Lisa Jackson shot us in Washington,’ Cecil Roberts, president of the powerful union, said during an interview Tuesday on the West Virginia radio show MetroNews Talkline.” (Andrew Restuccia, “Mine Union Boss: Coal Industry Could Suffer Same Fate as Bin Laden,” The Hill, 4/4/2012)

MORE: NEW RULE IS “AN ALL-OUT… DECISION BY THE EPA THAT WE’RE NEVER GOING TO HAVE ANOTHER COAL-FIRED FACILITY” IN AMERICA:(Andrew Restuccia, “Mine Union Boss: Coal Industry Could Suffer Same Fate as Bin Laden,” The Hill, 4/4/2012)

THIRD LARGEST INDEPENDENT POWER PRODUCER IN AMERICA ANNOUNCED IT WOULD CLOSE PLANTS BECAUSE OF OBAMA’S EPA RULES: “GenOn Energy Inc. (GEN), the third-largest U.S. independent power producer by market value, expects to shut about 13 percent of its generating capacity by May 2015 because of environmental regulations.”(Jim Polson, “GenOn Will Shut Plants Through 2015 on Environmental Rules, Bloomberg, 2/29/2012)

ENERGY AND COMMERCE RANKING DEMOCRAT HENRY WAXMAN RENEWS PUSH FOR CAP-AND TRADE: “But if we could put in place a price on carbon and then use the sales of carbon allowances to raise revenues we could raise money and cut emissions at the same time, and we can have a transition that will be as orderly as possible. If we leave both to become much more severe then the answers will be more radical and painful.” (Ezra Klein, “Henry Waxman’s Plan to Cut the Deficit and Stop Global Warming—at the Same Time,” The Washington Post, 2/26/2012)

CAP-AND-TRADE WAS PROJECTED TO DESTROY 2.4 MILLION JOBS:(“State-by-State Analysis of Waxman-Markey Cap and Trade Legislation Paints Dour Picture for Nation’s Economy,” National Association of Manufacturers, 6/12/2009)