A grim new jobs report dealt a serious blow to efforts by the White House to convince voters ahead of the November elections that the president’s economic recovery plans were working.
The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits increased by 12,000 to 500,000 last week, taking economists and the White House by surprise.
President Obama, on his way to a 10-day vacation with his family on Martha’s Vineyard, said the report underscores the need for Congress to act on a bill helping small business.
“There will be plenty of time between now and November to play politics, but the small-business owners I met with this week, the ones that I’ve met with across the country this year, they don’t have time for political games.” Obama said. “They’re not interested in what’s best for a political party, they’re interested in what’s best for the country.”
Procedural tussles and bickering have held up the bill in the Senate, where the measure is expected to come back for a vote when Congress returns from recess next month.
Obama has touted the bill as a jobs package, noting that small businesses account for a significant percentage of jobs in America and need the tax breaks and other incentives to start hiring again.
But Republicans seized on the jobless claims, calling the latest report further proof that Obama’s economic policies aren’t working.
“This month’s jump in jobless claims may have surprised some economists, but it’s no surprise to the American families who are struggling to adjust to the Obama economy,” said Michael Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee. “The administration’s ‘Recovery Summer’ has been an epic failure and it is way past time for the White House to be straight with the American people and admit that $862 billion stimulus did not do what was promised.”
Earlier this week in Ohio, Obama talked up his policies as a success, saying, “We stabilized the economy.”
“We are moving in the right direction; we’re on the right track,” Obama said. “The economy is getting stronger, but it really suffered a big trauma.”
Economists had predicted for this week that unemployment claims would drop from 488,000 to 475,000. Instead, the increase put claims at the highest level since November.
Critics of the president have been openly speculating about a double-dip recession — bad news for the Democrats, who control the House, Senate and White House and have yet to show much progress on jobs and the economy — voters’ top priorities this year.
Part of the urgency is that, in order to create a favorable impression in the minds of voters, Democrats were hoping to show progress on job creation by the end of summer.
“There’s no doubt that we have not done everything that we can to keep moving the economy in the right direction,” said White House deputy press secretary Bill Burton. “We’ve been able to make some progress, but the president isn’t satisfied with the pace.”
