June Jobs: Unimproved, Unsurprising, Unacceptable

(DALLAS, TX) – In the wake of a June jobs report showing almost no change in vital unemployment metrics, a co-founder of the Job Creators Alliance said six months of disappointing jobs reports should be enough to let Washington know their policies are not working – and it is time to scrap the new health care law entirely.

“Any uptick in jobs is good news but it’s no reason for celebration when the overall employment landscape remains stagnant,” Las Vegas Sands president and chief operating officer Mike Leven said. “The unchanged unemployment and labor participation rates proved again the economic policies coming out of Washington are assuring sluggish economic growth. This not surprising, but it is also not acceptable.”

The US Department of Labor reported today that employers added 195,000 jobs in June, beating pessimistic expectations for only 165,000 new jobs. The manufacturing sector, a vital measure of the wider economy, lost 6,000 positions last month. The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 7.6 percent. An upward revision of disappointing April and May numbers was the applause line for the June report. Still, the report found one in three unemployed Americans have been out of work for at least 27 weeks.

When discouraged workers and part-time workers seeking full-time employment are included, unemployment rose to 14.3 percent from 13.8 percent in May.

“Those who say this report is a sign of solid improvement in the labor market are focused solely on the silver lining of this dark cloud,” said Leven, who also co-founded the Job Creators Alliance (JCA). “The unemployment rate has not improved and we still have the lowest percentage of Americans participating in the labor market since the Carter era.”

“The people who do the hiring in America have a word of advice for the economists, politicians and bureaucrats who have never created a job: put the corks back in your champagne bottles, this is no time to celebrate,” Leven said. “With the uncertainty of the Obamacare employer mandate hanging over the business sector like the Sword of Damacles for another year, CEOs will now wait much longer to invest, expand and hire more workers.”

A June JCA poll revealed that 60 percent of small business owners believe the new health care law will hurt their company.

“Washington must replace the new health care law with a system that works for employees, employers and the economy,” Leven said.”If the Obama Administration wants to jump start hiring in this listless economy, they should cut taxes and regulations and pursue other pro-growth policies.”