Posted
In
a political year like this, it becomes hard to sort the truth from the
political hype as each candidate tiles to present statistics that bolster their
campaign.
It
is as true as ever that ‘It’s the economy” when gauging whether a working
family should support a particular candidate. Let’s look at some economic
statistics and examine how they relate to working people.
A
year ago, the Bush administration predicted that Its “Jobs and Growth” tax cut
would add 3.4 million jobs. The truth is the economy added only 1.4 million
jobs. The administration’s prediction is short more than 2 million jobs.
That’s
a lot of people: Two million workers would fill over 27 Lambeau
Fields.
Now,
think of the 1.4 million jobs created. How many of those can be considered ‘family-supporting”
jobs? Jobs that allow workers to rise above the poverty level
and Into the Middle Class? Too few, I think.
Right
now, 8.2 million Americans remain unemployed. The Bureau of Labor Statistics
reports the average length of unemployment rose to 20 weeks last month, up from
19.7 weeks in April.
Nearly
22 percent of all jobless workers have been without work hr 27 weeks or more.
Their situation Is worsened by the failure of Congress
to extend unemployment Insurance benefits to the long-term jobless.
When
you see our congressmen out campaigning this year, ask them how they stood on
this important workers’ issue.
Women
have been hit hard by the jobs crisis: 146,000 fewer women are employed today
than In March 2001, a decline of 2.3 percent.
“If
the upward trend In the number of women employed over
the 1990s had continued from March 2001 on, we would expect an additional 3.9
million women would be employed now,” says Vicky Lovell, study director at the
Institute for Women’s Policy Research.
In
addition, 48 percent of working women say they have been out of work in the
past year or have a family member or dose friend who has been out of work,
according to the AFL-CIO’s 2004 “Ask A Working Woman”
survey report.
The
report also shows working women contribute a majority of their families’
incomes. This includes both single mothers and married women, and includes many
women who work in low-paying jobs.
The
new jobs In industries that are growing offer 20
percent lower wages, on average, than those in industries that have been
shrinking, and many don’t offer basic benefits,” says AFL-CIO Executive Vice
President Linda Chavez-Thompson. “Women from all backgrounds and from across
the country fear hr their future, because they find it harder and harder to
find good jobs.”
Minorities
are especially hard-hit. The jobless rate is at 7 percent hr Latinos and
remains at a whopping 9.9 percent among blacks.
In
the next few months, we will see whether working Americans place jobs at the
top of their election-season Issues list.
Randy
McSoriey joined Thilmany
Paper in 1973 and has been a union activist since 1976. He is the