Washington’s massive spending appears to be doing damage to more than just the deficit, according to Congressman Kevin Brady (R-Texas), the Senior House Republican on the Joint Economic Committee.
It’s also disproportionately hurting those at the end of the economic scale.
New data shows the overall national unemployment rate rose to 8.9% in April. But, that’s only half the story as America’s blue-collar workers are founding out the hard way.
While the unemployment rate for workers with a college degree is 4.4%, it’s a disturbing 14.8% for workers without a high school diploma and 9.3% for workers with a high school diploma. Texas’ jobless numbers – now at 8.7% - are also rising with the national numbers.
Reacting to new figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) showing that 611,000 Americans lost private sector jobs in April. Congressman Brady asked BLS Commissioner Keith Hall to substantiate the Obama Administration’s claims that their policies had already saved 150,000 jobs.
“Unfortunately, Commissioner Hall couldn’t validate that claim today before the Joint Economic Committee,” Brady said.
A recent report in The Economic says the problem here is ‘deeply flawed’ economic assumption.
“The administration’s combination of underestimated jobless numbers and overestimated economic growth numbers are hiding the real costs of expensive new spending proposals from the American people,” Brady said.