America's Economy Continues to Strengthen Under President Obama and Democrats' Leadership
‘Amazing' jobs report... – MarketWatch, 1/9
The best year for jobs since 1999 – VOX, 1/9
December Employment Gain Caps Best Year for U.S. Since 1999… – Bloomberg, 1/9
U.S. Economy Added 252,000 Jobs in December; Unemployment Rate at 5.6% – New York Times, 1/9
U.S. job growth continues to look strong… – MSNBC, 1/9
2014 was America's best year of job growth since 1999 – CNN Money, 1/9
In addition to the nearly 3 million new jobs created in 2014 – three times more jobs in one year than all eight years of former President George W. Bush's presidency – there are other indications our economy continues to strengthen:
- The unemployment rate has now fallen to 5.6 percent, the lowest since June 2008. And the annual average unemployment rate fell 1.2 percentage point between 2013 and 2014, the largest such decline since 1984.
- The manufacturing sector has now added 786,000 jobs over the past 58 months, the industry's strongest job growth in since the 1990s.
- The construction (+48,000) and health care (+44,000) sectors saw strong job gains in December.
For all our progress, however, too many Americans are still out of work and too many middle class and working families still feel squeezed. Now is the time for House Republicans to do more than talk the talk – it's time to walk the walk for the middle class and working families. Instead of absurdly taking credit for Democrats improving the economy and working to advance a special-interest-first, Wall Street agenda, Republicans in Congress should join Democrats in fighting to bring bigger paychecks and better infrastructure to the American people.