White House Projects 9 Percent Jobless Rate Ahead of 2012 Election

[Conservative]

White House Projects 9 Percent Jobless Rate Ahead Of 2012 Election | FoxNews.com

The White House projects that the unemployment rate will still be above 9 percent next year as President Obama seeks to win a second term.

The new figures from the White House budget office predict that the economy will grow by just 1.7 percent this year, a full percentage point less than the administration predicted at the beginning of 2011. The economy grew by just 0.7 percent in the first half of the year, the slowest pace since the recession ended two years ago.

"By its own admission, the Obama administration's record on job creation and fiscal responsibility is abysmal," said Rep. Paul Ryan, chairman of the House Budget Committee.

"Today's report confirms that the president's policies have failed to deliver on his promises of job creation, deficit reduction, and much needed economic growth," he said. "Since taking office, the president's policies have made a difficult situation worse."

No president in modern times has won re-election with unemployment as high as 9 percent, and Obama's poll numbers have suffered in recent weeks amid a steady drumbeat of bad economic news.

 

[waltky]

Not much has changed over the last year or so...

31% of Jobless Out of Work for a Year or More
11/03/11 -- Multiple reports out this month show the labor market heading in a better direction with hiring picking up and fewer layoffs happening, but there is still one ominous sign all is not well: the vast number of the long-term unemployed.

Nearly a third (31.8%) of the 14 million Americans who were unemployed from July to September of this year had been out of work for at least a year or more, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data analyzed by Pew Charitable Trusts. That percentage represented a slight decline from the previous quarter but is still higher than at any point during the recession -- and far more than any time since the Great Depression.

To put that in real numbers, that means there were more than 4.4 million Americans who hadn't earned a steady paycheck since at least the first half of 2010. Not only is this debilitating for the affected households, but it's also costly for the state and federal governments, which must pay out more unemployment benefits, as well as other forms of assistance, for those that run out of money after that point.

Source

 

[Mr. H.]

This can only serve to guarantee Obama's reelection. He'll promise, uh... hope. Yeah- and change...
And he'll blame it on.... um...