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“A JOBLESS RECOVERY IS NO RECOVERY” mentioning the U.S. Dept of Labor was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H9711-H9712 on Oct. 20, 2003.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
A JOBLESS RECOVERY IS NO RECOVERY
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Green) is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise on behalf of unemployed Americans.
The administration and our Republican leadership tell us that the economy is rebounding and that we are in an economic recovery, but to the hardworking Americans who are still looking for those jobs, the statistics do not amount to a hill of beans because they still cannot find work. To them, a jobless recovery is no recovery at all.
America's unemployed have this administration to thank for an economic recovery that has produced few jobs and has little impact on their lives. Sure, the administration will tell us that job creation is its number one priority. In fact, over the past year, the President has gone on a nationwide public relations tour touting his tax cut in front of backdrops that proclaimed ``Strengthening America's Economy'' and shout ``Jobs, Growth and Opportunity.''
The truth of the matter is, however, that any growth produced by the administration's economic policies has come at the expense of jobs or Congress' opportunity to create them.
Let us take the administration's catch-all solution for any of our economic woes, tax cuts. The administration said that our economic recovery would be fueled by consumers who spent the extra money. Unfortunately, an income tax cut does not help unemployed workers without an income. They do not feel the economic recovery.
To this argument, the administration is sure to say, wait a minute, we also gave businesses tax cuts to expand and create jobs. Well, our businesses did not take their advice. Instead, they invested in technology and innovation, and in doing so, they increased productivity and can now produce more products without producing more jobs.
In fact, a recent Department of Labor study determined that our high unemployment levels are due not just to layoffs, but primarily to the lack of newhires in expanding businesses. So tax cuts for businesses have provided little relief for unemployed workers.
Our trade policies have also been truly devastating for the American worker. By implementing fast-track trade negotiating authority and permanent normal trade relations for China, we have seen American jobs go out on a fast track out of this country. I would remind my colleagues that 3 years ago, we were promised that trade with China would lead to an increase in American jobs and exports. Well, certainly, we were not told that, 3 years later, our main export to China would actually be American jobs, about 1 million of them to be specific.
Frankly, we have given American businesses little incentive to keep their jobs in this country. In ratifying a flurry of free trade agreements, we have made it increasingly difficult for American products to compete with their inexpensive foreign competitors. We have left many American businesses with few choices other than to move production, and jobs, offshore.
Additionally, too many of our service sector businesses are outsourcing their jobs to cheaper foreign labor. Today, we already have 400,000 jobs outsourced to a country like India. That number is bad enough, but even worse is a recent study indicating that over 3 million of these jobs will likely be outsourced over the next 10 years.
This country has already felt the tremendous pain of losing almost 3 million jobs. We need to take action now to encourage private sector business to keep these much-needed jobs at home.
Mr. Speaker, the unemployment rate in this country stands at 6.1 percent. The sad news, however, is that that number does not even take into account the thousands of Americans who have looked for work but have now given up. Labor force participation, the percentage of Americans who are either working or looking for work, is only 66 percent. It is at the lowest level since 1991.
We need true job creation in this country, not the administration's idea of job creation through permanent tax cuts, tort reform and more free trade legislation. That kind of trickle-down job creation will not work any better than their trickle-down economics.
Instead of their faulty economic policies, we need to stimulate the economy directly by aiding our cash-strapped States so that our law enforcement and teachers can keep their jobs. We should create jobs through public works programs that will employ our skilled workers while repairing America's crumbling roads and bridges. This is the kind of economic stimulus needed in our country. This is the kind of economic stimulus that creates jobs on the ground.
The administration tells us to be patient, the economy is growing and the jobs will come. Unfortunately, however, recovery based on increased productivity only lessens the chance for job creation because to create jobs the economy must grow faster than productivity, and it does not seem likely that our sputtering economy will be meeting these expectations in the near future.
So, here we are, with record-level trade deficits brought on by record-level tax cuts that will not do a thing for most of the American people hurting the most. And it is a shame, particularly because we had a choice. The administration could have pursued economic policies in the best interests of both our country and America's unemployed workers. Instead, they pursued economic policies in the best interest of their campaign and reelection efforts, and the unfortunate result is a jobless recovery, or if we ask our unemployed workers, no recovery at all.
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