 |
| Willard Mitt Romney photo by Gage Skidmore |
Though they are battering the term around at this week's Republican Convention, one must take a look at historical records to see if "full employment" has ever been achieved under a Republican president.
According to some economists, "full-employment" is achieved when the unemployment rate is between 4 and 6.4%. According to the Huffington Post, under President Reagan, unemployment went from 7.6% to 9.7-9.8%, almost the highest rate ever recorded. When George W. Bush took over after the Clinton presidency when unemployment was at 4.3%, unemployment went steadily upward to 7.2%.
Under Bush, income disparity also grew and the poverty rate increased from 11.25% in 2000 to 12.3% in 2006 after peaking at 12.7% in 2004. From 2000-2005, only 4% of workers, typically highly-educated professionals, had real income increases, according to political scientist professor Kenneth Scheve.
More importantly, we should be looking at the track record of job creation. Taking a look at Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) records starting with the presidency of Republican Herbert Hoover, his administration was responsible for a -5.4% increase in jobs. During his first term, President George W. Bush had a 0 .00% increase.
Unfortunately, with technology reducing the need for workers and the population increasing, we may never reach "full employment" levels again. There must be another solution to ending the growing problem which is making workers obsolete.
To learn more about BLS statistics on employment, go to: http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/surveymost?bls
©2012 Tomi Johnson. All rights reserved
Question: Exactly HOW does Candidate Romney propose he will achieve "full employment" and will "full employment" include ALL Americans? Will Blacks and Hispanics be among those achieving "full employment" under the Romney plan? With Black and Hispanic unemployment typically being double that of the nation's - and with the 2010 Census making it clear that the population will soon be a majority population comprised of people of color, it would be great to hear the plan that will realistically achieve "full employment".
ReplyDeleteWill said: As the saying goes, "You go Girl". This is a very informative article.
ReplyDeleteGeorge Calhoun said: Good article Tomi. One thing that causes me concern is the fact that manufacturing jobs that were off "shored" using Mr. Romney's words left this country at $20- $30 an hour, and are returning at half that...it's gonna be hard to realize the American Dream at those wages!
ReplyDelete