Will The Republicans Give Us Jobs or Jabs?

The U.S. monthly job report published last week showed that there were 173,000 new jobs added to the U.S. economy in August.

On face value, this seems to be an unimpressive number compared to other months, nevertheless, when viewed from the perspective of the overall employment figures to date, it provides a much better picture of the U.S. economy.

To begin with, we no longer see the Republican Party leadership running to the airwaves and shouting, “Where are the jobs Mr. President?” Neither do we hear the mantra, “Obamacare killing jobs.”

The fact is the U.S. unemployment rate has fallen dramatically since President Obama assumed office.

When the President took office in January 2009,the unemployment rate was at 7.8 percent and even hoover around 10 percent during his first term.

However, today it has fallen to 5.1 percent.

This number must be viewed against former Republican Presidential candidate Romney’s promise of a 6 percent unemployment rate by 2016.

President Obama has not only better than rate, but has also done so in 2015.

Unemployment rate is now 2.7 percentage points lower than it was in January 2009, when the President first took office in the midst of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.

The truth is the jobless rate is now better than it has been most of the time since 1948 beating the historical median of 5.6 percent.

According to well-known economist, Paul Krugman, the main reason unemployment has fallen so much is job growth in the private sector, which he said has added more than seven million workers since the end of 2012.

Now, the President is once again appealing to the Republican leadership to not only avoid a government shutdown but also to pass a budget that will allow for investment in ports, roads, bridges, broadband networks, drinking water and sewer systems and other projects that will provide thousands of jobs for the middle class.

The President believes that by facilitating partnerships between federal, state, and local governments and private sector investors more jobs can be created for people.

We wait with baited breath to see whether a budget consisting of jobs will be on the table this fall.