The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics announced Friday that the unemployment rate rose to 9.8 percent for November, an increase from Octobers 9.6 percent figure -- and congressional Republicans have opened fire on the Obama team.
During November, 390,000 more Americans lost their jobs, raising the number to a total of 15.1 million Americans out of work. Also established was a decrease in the number of retail jobs, despite the start of the holiday shopping season, as 28,000 jobs in that industry were lost.
The administration expressed confidence in the economy.
"This past November, nonfarm payroll employment increased by 39,000 jobs, and the unemployment rate increased to 9.8 percent, said U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis on Friday. Furthermore, the job numbers for the months of September and October were revised upward 38,000. This year, we've seen the creation of 1.2 million private-sector jobs -- steady growth averaging 106,000 new private-sector jobs each month.
"This private-sector job growth, while positive, is not enough to keep up with the new entrants into the labor market each month, let alone create jobs for the 15 million unemployed workers, continued Solis. "That's why we cannot forget the millions of Americans who, through no fault of their own, are still unemployed and looking for work. We still have a lot of work to do before we will have gained back everything we lost in this recession.
"One way to bolster our economic recovery, and provide desperately needed support for the millions of Americans who continue to wake up every morning and look for work, is to reauthorize expiring unemployment Insurance benefits, added Solis. "These benefits make it possible for unemployed Americans to keep looking for work, and we know that every dollar spent on UI generates $2 in economic activity. Letting these benefits expire will cost our economy half a percentage point in gross domestic product. Congress has a choice, and for the sake of our economy Congress must reauthorize these expiring unemployment benefits without further delay.
Republicans were not buying it -- and threw the blame on the Obama administration and congressional Democrats who would not support extending tax cuts backed by George W. Bush in 2001 and 2003 for all Americans.
Incoming U.S. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, ripped into the Obama administrations economic programs.
Any sign of job growth in this struggling economy is encouraging, but clearly no match for the uncertainty families and small businesses are facing, which is why we must cut spending and stop all the looming tax hikes, said Boehner on Friday morning.
Unfortunately, Democratic leaders continue to insist on wasting time with meaningless votes as they try to make it as difficult as possible to stop their job-killing tax hike, continued Boehner, commenting on the vote that took place in Congress Thursday.Families and small businesses have had enough of politicians in Washington talking about creating jobs while doing everything in their power to kill more jobs. This is exactly the kind of Washington game-playing the American people voted against on Election Day. The lame-duck Congress should do the right thing and vote immediately to cut spending and stop all the tax hikes. If they dont, the new House majority will in January.
As economists and small-business owners have warned, the last thing our economy needs right now is a job-killing tax hike, concluded Boehner. Republicans are focused on keeping our 'Pledge to America' to cut spending and permanently stop all the tax hikes. Our economy will ultimately recover, but it will do so because of hard work and entrepreneurship, not more of the same job-killing policies and spending binges.
Republicans from Florida agreed with Boehner and opened fire on the administration.
Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney hammered the Obama administration and Democrats for not backing extending the tax and pointed to the newly released national unemployment rate as to why all Americans needed tax breaks.
When will Democrats finally decide theyve had enough of sticking it to small businesses? demand Rooney. This has been one of the most anti-business, anti-small business congresses and administrations in our nations history, and the numbers tell the story. Nineteen straight months of 9.4 percent unemployment or higher, the longest stretch since the Great Depression.
The American people spoke loud and clear on Nov. 2, and they have had enough of this Congress and this administration punishing small businesses who are trying to make ends meet and hire new workers, said Rooney, who is a possible candidate to take on Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson in 2012. No more new taxes, no more costly mandates, no more excessive regulation.
Congress should act immediately to extend all of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, so that small businesses and job-creators can have the stability they need to grow and hire new workers, continued Rooney. Then we need to begin rolling back the new taxes and costly mandates of the last two years, so we can get the federal government off the backs and out of the wallets of our small businesses.
Rooney was not the only possible U.S. Senate candidate sounding off on the matter. U.S. Rep. Connie Mack, who also has his eye on challenging Nelson, targeted the Democratic senator when he commented on the issue on Friday.
The liberal policies of President Obama and Bill Nelson over the last two years have done little, if anything, to get our economy moving again, said Mack. On the day of another release of our European unemployment numbers, Bill Nelsons Democratic friends rammed through another tax increase in the House which Nelson himself will vote on tomorrow. When will Bill Nelson admit [that] his opposition to the tax cuts in 2001 and 2003, his support of Obamacare, and his support of all of the government bailouts has wrecked our economy? Maybe we will find out tomorrow.
Republican U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis said he thought the tax cuts needed to be extended due to Florida continuing to struggle behind the nation. In October, the unemployment rate stood at 11.9 percent in the Sunshine State.
Simply talking about the need to create jobs wont help as long as Democrats pursue these fiscal attacks on our families and businesses, said Bilirakis.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
