Reuters: "The U.S. technology sector suffered another round of widespread layoffs during the third quarter, with computer firms slashing jobs most aggressively, a report said Monday. "High-tech job cuts are on the way up as the end of the year approaches," said John A. Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas. "Behind this trend is the fact that technology companies have virtually no pricing power."" AND, of course, OUTSOURCING - which this Reuters article quite Bushily "forgets" to mention. Job cuts in technology jumped 60% between July and September to 54,701, compared with 34,213 layoffs in the second quarter. Computer companies alone saw job cuts jump 127 percent, to 30,624.."

Times of India: "More than 48,000 American jobs were shifted overseas, including to countries like India and China, in the Jan-Mar quarter [in 2004]. The US Midwest lost the most jobs to outsourcing (18,968); followed by the the Southeast (8,604) and Northeast (7,223). The states hardest hit were Illinois (7,555 jobs) and Michigan (5,283).Unionised jobs accounted for a disproportionate 39%t of the US jobs that moved to other countries during the time period studied. In addition, 29% of the companies shifting production out of the US were unionised, the report showed." Btw - you know the excuse usually given by companies for outsourcing - that they HAVE to do it to be able to make a profit? It's a big fat lie: " The companies shifting jobs [overseas] tend to be large, publicly held, highly profitable and well established, with 72% of them owned by US multinationals." In short, they already ARE profitable - they just want MORE, at US workers' expense.

"The verdict is in: with 1.6 million private sector jobs lost during his term, President Bush will be the first President in 72 years to face the electorate with an economy that has lost jobs under his watch. Indeed, job creation is now seven million jobs behind where the Administration projected in Feb. 2002 our economy would now be if we followed the President's economic plan. And even the modest numbers of jobs created are paying $9,000 less than the jobs being lost, and are too often without health care and pension coverage that working families need. Even over this last year, our economy has failed to create even enough jobs to cover new workers coming into the job market, not to speak of the millions who are unemployed, working in part- time or temporary jobs or who have given up and dropped out."

A recent poll by Corporate Voice for working families revealed : Just less than 38% of low wage workers in the US receive health insurance, while only 47% get paid sick leave? Only 1 in 5 low-wage workers make enough to put money aside into any sort of savings, while another 23% say they can't even keep up with their regular bills. However, the plight of low wage workers is obvious to all Americans: 68% of all voters believe most jobs being created are lower-paying jobs without benefits, while 62% believe that low-wage/no-benefit jobs are a bigger problem than than lack a shortage of jobs. 60% of voters think the problem of low-wage jobs has gotetten worse in the past few years. 71% of low-wave workers believe improvements are needed in their job situation."

The Bush Labor Dept., in true shady corporate style, keeps two sets of books: the "official" jobless figures and the REAL jobless figures: The San Fran. Chronicle reports: "To be counted as unemployed, a person must have actively sought a job within the last four weeks and have been completely out of work. Wanting a job but not actively looking takes a person out of the labor force and out of the unemployment rate calculation. In response to recurring questions about the unemployment rate, the Labor Department has created other indicators that, while generally ignored by politicians and media, paint a fuller portrait of the employment market. This alternate index, sometimes called an 'underemployment rate' figures in 'discouraged workers' and those working part time while looking for work. In August, when the official unemployment rate fell 0.1 percentage point to 5.4 percent, this alternative index remained at 9.5 percent -- right where it had been the previous month."

At a recent press conference, Jeb Bush said the "silver lining" to the hurricane disaster was how many new jobs reconstruction was creating. But now to spin off the fact that fewer new jobs were created in Sept. than expected, the White House is BLAMING the hurricane! Nothing like making reality whatever you need it to be! Bloomberg reports: "U.S. employers probably added 150,000 jobs in September and the unemployment rate held at 5.4% the lowest in almost three years." The rate, of course, doesn't reflect the 152,000 discouraged workers who dropped out of the labor force last month! (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/10/03/BUG619120L1.DTLeach .Bloomberg reports : "More jobs would have been added if hurricanes hadn't struck the southeastern U.S." One economist said that Hurricane Ivan shaved as many as 30,000 jobs from last month's figures... So how does the temporary loss of 30,000 old jobs have any bearing on how many NEW jobs were created?

Only G.W Bush could get away with this! In order to claim that the economy is getting better and there are "more jobs" now, the Bush administration simply doesn't count the people who have jobs but are LAID OFF - and thus not earning any money. Nifty little trick, eh? In reality, "Job cuts announced by US companies increased 6.6 percent in August to 74,150, a six-month high. Layoff announcements have settled to a range between 65,000 and 75,000 per month after averaging just over 100,000 a month in 2003...Financial services firms cut 13,153 jobs in August, while diversified services cut 6,340 jobs. Retail, telecommunications, industrial goods and computer firms also cut more than 5,000 workers in August. " Doncha just love Tinkerbelle economics (as in just clap your hands and wish real hard and there really WILL be jobs!).

Just about every American over the age of about 16 knows that every August, there is a major reshuffling of jobs. School kids leave summer jobs, which are then filled by new people, while schools and colleges do their annual hiring for the fall. But again, these are annual, not new, jobs. Yet because it coincides with the big convention week PR blitz, the Bush administration is manipulating figures and rhetoric again to make it APPEAR that companies are adding to payrolls right and left. The only people who really ARE taking on new hires are temp agencies. And we hardly call this "progress." Worse, the phony song and dance is hiding the truth: the economy is getting WORSE: Buried in this typically Bushie Reuters report is this little "nugget":"Economists noted a 152,000 fall in the civilian labor force that potentially accounted for at least part of the jobless rate decline. The labor force often falls when job-seekers abandon the hunt for work."

Bloomberg: "The number of Americans filing initial jobless claims probably increased for the first time in four weeks, boosted in part by joblessness caused by Hurricane Charley, economists forecast in advance of government report today. First-time applications for state unemployment benefits rose by 4,000 last week to 335,000, according to the median estimate of 41 economists in a Bloomberg News survey. The Labor Department releases the report at 8:30 a.m. in Washington. The hurricane struck Florida on Aug. 13, resulting in 20 deaths and about $7.4 billion in insured losses to businesses and homes. Increases in claims related to the storm are expected to be temporary as jobs are created in coming weeks to rebuild. "

"Job growth has stalled in the last two months. Payroll jobs increased by only 78,000 in June and a meager 32,000 in July, after rising 295,000 a month the previous three months. The Bush Administration called the tax cut package, which was passed in May 2003 and took effect in July 2003, its 'Jobs and Growth Plan.' The Council of Economic Advisers projected that the plan would result in the creation of 5.5 million jobs by the end of 2004-306,000 new jobs each month starting in July 2003. The CEA projected that the economy would generate 228,000 jobs a month without a tax cut and 306,000 jobs a month with the tax cut. Thus, it projected that 3,978,000 jobs would be created over the last 13 months. In reality, since the tax cuts took effect, there are 2,565,000 fewer jobs than the administration projected would be created by enactment of its tax cuts. As can be seen in the chart below, job creation failed to meet the administration's projections in 11 of the past 13 months."

Children's Defense Fund reports: "The release of today's Bureau of Labor Statistics report shows that only 32,000 jobs were created in July. Experts were expecting 215,000 to 247,000 new jobs. Hidden in today's report is the exceptionally unsettling picture for minority youth. In July, the jobless rate for African American youth hit a historic high and the rate for Latino youth was near the all time worst. The jobless rate for all 16 to 19 year olds reached 56.1% in July, while the jobless rate for African American youth reached 75.1% and Latino youth reached almost 66%. 'Today's children are the backbone of tomorrow's economy,' said Deborah Cutler-Ortiz, of the the CDF. 'The current dismal jobs report clearly calls for action. Instead of passing more tax breaks, which is not stimulating the economy nor creating jobs, the Bush Administration should do more to lift families out of poverty by investing in programs that help children.' "

While the rich are "recovering" nicely, thanks to Bush's multi-billion-dollar tax giveaway and regulatory changes aimed at benefiting them, the rest of America is fighting for jobs that have no prayer of supporting them. This past Monday, when a new Wal-mart in Illinois started taking applications for positions, over 200 people showed up in the first hour to apply - a total of 3,000 people are expected to apply for just 300 jobs. In Illinois, Walmart pays about $5.75-6.00/ hr for entry level "associates" - that's about $12,000/year - only about $1,500 above the rock bottom federal poverty line for a single person - below the poverty line for a single mom with a child. These are the great jobs Bush keeps gushing about creating!

As you know, Bush has been pushing hard since stealing the presidency to privatize the space program. It will make the program more efficient, he says, and open up new jobs. Yeah, right. Well, now that privatization of NASA looks like it may be inevitable, the administration drops this bomb (Reuters): " India and the United States start an ambitious chapter in space cooperation this week, marking a U-turn from a long estrangement linked to U.S. sanctions against India's nuclear program. About 150 U.S. experts will join a five-day conference in India's technology capital of Bangalore from Monday to discuss collaboration on research, production, trade and satellite navigation." Anyone in the tech world knows what this means: it's only a short time before the shipment of space industry jobs to India begins.

Richard Torgerson blogs, "John Crudele's jobs commentary in the New York Post caught my eye last month. He reported that a huge number of the new jobs being reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics were actually the imaginary invention of a statistical method known as 'birth/death modeling'... When you actually reproduce the BLS methodology described in the BLS Handbook of Methods (Chapter 2), you arrive at the conclusion that fully 88% of the new jobs claimed to have been created since March 2003 are imaginary. " Is Bush lying about the "jobs" he "created"? Stay tuned...

Hey you unemployed and underemployed folks out there! Guess you just aren't scanning those want ads hard enough! Seems there's all kinds of jobs there you just aren't "noticing." At least that's what the Bush camp is claiming."Few voters seem to be giving Bush credit for the new jobs or other signs of recovery. Bush campaign aides said the positive job news has been overshadowed by other events - from Martha Stewart's legal troubles to the Iraqi prison abuse scandal. Even Ronald Reagan's death. "There's been a lot of news to compete with the economic news," Bush spokeswoman Nicolle Devenish said."[like that changes anything for the unemployed!]. Btw - turns out HALF of all those great "professional and businesses services" jobs created in May [paragraph 9] were temp positions. Whoop-de-doo.

"Since the recession began 38 months ago in March 2001, 1.3 million jobs have disappeared, representing a 1.0% contraction. The Bureau of Labor Statistics began collecting monthly jobs data in 1939 (at the end of the Great Depression). In every previous episode of recession and job decline since 1939, the number of jobs had fully recovered to above the pre-recession peak within 31 months of the start of the recession. Today's labor market would have 5.3 million more jobs if employment had grown by the same 3.0% average gain for the last three recession cycles. The picture is worse for private-sector jobs, which have dropped by 1.9 million since March 2001, representing a 1.7% contraction."

So now we know how Bush can claim an increase in jobs while the unemployment rate stays the same: the ballooning number of temp jobs. When these workers are let go, they don't show up as new jobless claims. Robert Gavin writes: " The temporary help industry is among the fastest-growing segments of the labor market. Employment in the sector has doubled since 1990, ballooning at a rate five times faster than national employment as a whole. By 2012, the Labor Department estimates, the sector will grow by another 50 percent and add some 1.8 million jobs -- nearly triple the projected increase in computer systems and design services. The ability to quickly bring on workers when demand rises, and just as quickly let them go when it slips, makes the economy more efficient and productive." All, of course, at the expense of the American worker.

Bush has done nothing to stop corporations from shipping US jobs overseas. Kerry, by contrast, pledges to take immediate steps to stem the flow. But if Bush is reelected and nothing is done, "A new report shows that "the 'offshoring' of US service jobs to low-wage countries is growing faster than previously thought. Forrester Research, a technology trend analysis firm, estimates that 830,000 US service jobs will be lost by 2005, a 40 per cent increase from a projection of 588,000 jobs it made in November 2002. Because offshoring is growing so quickly, Forrester nudged up its estimate that US companies will send 3.3 million service jobs offshore by 2015, saying the figure likely will hit 3.4 million. At that point, the total US wages lost because of offshoring will exceed US$151 billion annually."

To artificially inflate the "new jobs" story (which is a fairytale at best), Bush has misleadingly recategorized certain jobs. For example, under "professional" positions the Labor Dept. now lists temp positions and jobs like grounds maintenance. Under "manufacturing" high-tech electronics components assembly jobs are now listed. By doing this, the Labor Dept. was able to show the first increase in manufacturing jobs in months. But you out of work ex-auto workers and appliance plant folks shouldn't, alas, get your hopes up. The "manufacturing jobs" Bush is touting require masters degrees or higher, with many jobs being filled by green card-holders. In addition, many of these new jobs are with high tech "start ups" that can offer little job security.

AP: "A forecast issued by state university economists predicted that 1,800 chemical jobs would be lost in 2004-05 [in Louisiana alone]. The planned layoffs of up to 500 workers at the BASF Corp. chemical plant in Geismar [LA] probably will be repeated at other Louisiana petrochemical plants over the coming months.BASF said Thursday it would lay off up to a third of its employees and contract workers at the plant over the next 18 months amid high natural gas prices and the industry's shift toward producing its products in Russia, China and the Middle East. /We really anticipate more of this coming,/ LSU economist Loren Scott said. 'This isn't just a single shot.' "

Robert Kuttner writes: "Most of the solution to the outsourcing problem is domestic. In recent decades, institutions that once produced a more equal society have been dismantled or weakened... including government regulation of wages and working conditions, of industry practices, of a worker's right to choose a union (or not), as well as various social investments that once contributed good jobs. If we can rebuild these, the loss of some jobs overseas will continue to be a problem, but a manageable one. The majority of jobs in the economy today are in the service sector... and cannot easily be outsourced overseas. So the first remedy is to make these good jobs. We can do this with higher minimum wages, local living wage ordinances, by enforcing the right of workers to join unions, and structuring these jobs to encourage and reward higher skills and career paths."

"Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano (D) banned the outsourcing of state jobs after learning that 19,000 welfare and food-stamp calls a month connected to India or Mexico. Napolitano on Wednesday announced that any future contracts will require that all work be done in the United States. The Arizona Republic reported that Arizona pays about $30 million under a seven-year contract for welfare and food-stamp calls to be handled. State officials told the newspaper that fewer than 4 percent of the calls are routed overseas." But as Janet realized - 4% of $30 million is $1.2 million - enough to cover a whole lotta US paychecks!

The Center for Economic and Policy Research reports that "during the recession and recovery from 2001 to the present, job growth has been slow and wage growth has been negligible in the industries that former welfare recipients predominantly work in. Most former welfare recipients are working in low-wage service-sector jobs...Overall, these are relatively low-wage industries: in the fourth quarter of 2003, the retail industry had an average hourly wage of $11.90 while food establishments averaged $7.77 per hour (not including tips), both of which were much lower than the $15.47 average for the private sector as a whole. Many of the industries in which former welfare recipients found jobs have been among the hardest hit during the recession and recovery from 2001 to the present." With nearly all new jobs being created in the service sector, competition for these low-paying jobs will intensify, which will make it all the harder for welfare recipients to compete.

Wired: " In the Democrats' weekly radio address, Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm told the story of a refrigerator plant that closed recently in her state and moved its 2,700 jobs to Mexico. She said it had become an all-too-familiar American tale. 'But after losing over 2.7 million manufacturing jobs over the last four years, all the Bush administration can say is that shipping jobs overseas is a 'positive development,' 'Granholm said. Defenders of the president's choice as 'czar,' Anthony Raimondo, have said U.S. companies need to be able to set up facilities overseas to help them expand sales abroad." This, of course is pure bull sh*t, as these facilities don't use US workers and then sell a high percentage of their products BACK to the US, not "abroad." Like those Bush campaign jackets from Burma, for example...

"Last month President Bush strongly endorsed the loss of U.S. jobs to foreign labor markets, personally signing a report that touted overseas outsourcing despite more than 8 million Americans being out of work. After the public reacted with outrage, the White House tried to back off its endorsement of outsourcing, with the president reassuring America that he is concerned about 'people looking for work because jobs have gone overseas' and saying that 'we need to act to make sure there are more jobs at home.' However, as the controversy subsides, the president is apparently endorsing outsourcing once again. Specifically, the president has deployed Secretary of State Colin Powell to India 'to assure Indians that the Bush administration would not try to halt the outsourcing of high-technology jobs to their country.'"

The Bush "brain trust" (or should we say stand up comedy routine) of Rove & Hughes has really outdone themselves this time. In response to the public outcry against outsourcing of America's best jobs to countries like India, R&H have coined a new term: Insourcing. As in jobs created in the US by the likes of Honda or BMW. But they forgot two details: 1. The total number of "insourced" jobs, including janitors and cafeteria people at plants is 6.4 million, tops while the current number of US unemployed is over 8 MILLION! 2. Instead of creating (and retaining) good-paying US jobs, R&H want us to be impressed that insourced jobs on average pay better than those created by Bush-coddled US corps! Who in their right mind would actually BRAG about that? LOL!

While Bush continues to tout the "improving economy" and to give constant lip service about his commitment to the American family, the cold hard facts belie his rhetoric. Here's the data obtained by the Children's Defense Fund: In 2000, 73% of single mothers were employed. By 2003, this had dropped to 69%. By contrast, during Clinton's second term, single mother employment rose 11%. In 2000, 79% of all parents with children under 18 were employed. By 2003, this had dropped to 77%. By contrast, in Clinton's second term, parental employment rose 3%. These statistics blast Bush's "inherited recession" claim right out of the water.

In a recent report, Bush's chief economic flimflam artist (er..."advisor") N. Gregory Mankiw tried to make the case that hamburger flippers at fast-food restaurants should be considered manufacturers. Mankiw claims the definition is "'somewhat blurry.... When a fast-food restaurant sells a hamburger, for example, is it providing a 'service' or is it combining inputs to 'manufacture' a product?" (Mankiw claimed earlier this month that sending jobs abroad would ultimately benefit the economy!) With this logic, Bush could also make Wal-mart and Home Depot clerks "manufacturers" because, after all, they "manufacture" receipts everytime they ring up a sale! The lady who comes into cook twice a week would find herself in a "good industrial job" because she manufactures dinner! Ditto the guys on the landscape crew who mow lawns and thus manufactures grass clippings! The possibilities are endless!

"The U.S. economy created just 112,000 new jobs in January, far fewer than expected, government data showed on Friday in a disappointing report that will likely weigh on Bush's re-election campaign... The unemployment rate ticked down to 5.6 percent, the lowest since January 2002, from 5.7 percent the previous month -- but those numbers are taken from a separate, smaller, survey. [And didn't count those whose unemployment benefits expired.] Analysts had been expecting the improving economy to create 150,000 new jobs in January [same as the dummies expected in December]... 'The payroll number was well below market expectations and confirms the jobs market in the U.S. is weak," said Daniel Tenengauzer, vice president for foreign exchange at Lehman Brothers... The troubled manufacturing sector cut jobs for the 42nd month in a row." Wonder how many jobs US global corporations shipped to other countries?

AP (American Propaganda) released a "news story" on 2/6 (dictated no doubt by Karl Rove) that claims, just in time for the Saturday primary, that unemployment is at its lowest since 2000! However, as the story admits toward the end, the average workweek in America is now just 33.7 hours. A quick statistical analysis reveals that this means only about 6 out of 10 Americans now work 40 or more hours/wk. The rest are scraping by on part-time, benefit-less jobs. Most of the "new jobs" (even AP admits) are in retail (as in clerks at Wal-Mart, Subway, etc.). The USDA figures show that the number of Food Stamp cases has risen by 6.4 million since 2000! (See www.frac.org/html/news/fsp/03oct.html) That's because none of those part time jobs Bush is deceptively pushing as real new jobs pay enough to fill families' stomachs. So Bush is, in essence, bragging about creating thousands of new low-wage jobs propped up to a survival level by the Food Stamp program.

"Job growth came to an unexpected halt in December... and rather than hunt for scarce work, tens of thousands of people disappeared from the labor force. Most forecasters had said they thought December would be a breakthrough month for job creation, given the strengthening economy. But instead of the 150,000 new jobs they had expected, there were a minuscule 1,000. The unemployment rate dropped to 5.7% from 5.9% in November, but that was mainly because so many people chose not to look for work, a requirement to be counted as unemployed. 'We thought we were finally moving out of the jobless recovery, that the work force was really growing at last,' said Nigel Gault. 'And now this report is telling us we are still stuck in a jobless recovery.' Bush, speaking in Washington before a group of small-business owners, focused on the drop in the unemployment rate, which he called 'a positive sign that the economy is getting better.'" Fire Bush - before he fires you!

"This economic recovery is distinctly unkind to workers. Output is clearly rising, and, normally, that would feed into both corporate profits and labor income. But while profits have shot up as a percentage of national income, reaching their highest level since the mid-1960's, labor's share is shrinking. Not since World War II has the distribution been so lopsided in the aftermath of a recession. Profits... never stopped rising as a share of national income all through the 2001 recession and the months afterward of weak economic growth... [But] the employment rolls are still smaller, by 2.4 million jobs, than they were at the recession's start in March 2001. Those who are employed are also feeling the squeeze, particularly the 85 million people who hold office or factory jobs below the rank of supervisor or manager. Their average hourly wage, $15.46, is up only 3 cents since July... That wage is rising at an annual rate of less than 2%, barely enough to keep up with inflation."

"The Labor Department said 378,000 people filed new claims for state unemployment benefits in the week ended Dec. 6, compared with a revised reading of 365,000 the prior week. Economists, on average, expected 359,000 new claims... Continued claims, the number of people out of work for a week or more, rose 11,000 to 3.34 million for the week ended Nov. 29." So much for Bush's miraculous "economic recovery!"

"Unemployed workers held up Christmas stockings filled with coal at a chilly outdoor news conference Monday in a display of disappointment that jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed will run out Dec. 21. In a 211-179 vote, House Republicans rejected an effort Monday by Democrats to allow consideration of a renewal of extended unemployment benefits. The program provides up to 13 weeks of federally paid jobless benefits to workers who have exhausted their state benefits. States generally limit their coverage to 26 weeks. Democrats wanted to extend the Temporary Extended Unemployment Compensation program through June 30. House Republicans are betting that workers will be able to find jobs in light of recent economic reports showing faster growth and four consecutive months of employers adding to their payrolls." Oh yeah? Let THEM try to find a job! Defeat ALL Republicans!

This week, Bush is touting the great "rebound" of the job market. But its not only a lie, its a slap in America's face. "The new jobs added last month mostly were in lower-paying industries such as retail and temporary employment firms. Average weekly earnings in those sectors are $366 and $318 respectively, said John A. Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger, Gray and Christmas, an employment research and recruiting firm. The national average is $521 per week. Also, 1.4 million workers were only able to find part-time work, up 27 percent from a year ago. To make ends meet, 7.5 million Americans worked two or more jobs last month, up from 7.3 million a year ago. The hard-hit manufacturing sector continued to shed jobs in October, losing 24,000. For blacks, the jobless rate climbed three-tenths of a percentage point last month to 11.5 percent. The rate fell for whites, Hispanics, Asians, men and women." Real great "rebound," eh?

"Payroll jobs increased by 126,000 in October. While far preferable to further job losses, those job gains fall short of the 150,000 jobs a month necessary to prevent the slack in the labor market from worsening. Jobs remain 2.4 million below the level of March 2001 when the last recession began. This post-recession labor slump has now become the first (since the collection of monthly jobs data began in 1939) without a full recovery of jobs within 31 months of the start of a recession. Instead of losing jobs over the last two and a half years, the economy should have added 4.5 million jobs just to keep up with growth in the working-age population. Actual job losses instead of needed job gains have created a total gap of 6.9 million jobs. The record-long labor slump has caused many people to give up on finding a job and created a 'missing' labor force of 2.3 million. If added to the 8.8 million officially unemployed, the 'missing' labor force would raise the unemployment rate to 7.4%."

Paul Krugman writes, "In September, employment rose for the first time since January, but the increase was only 57,000 jobs. And to have kept up with the population growth since Mr. Bush took office, the economy would have to add not two million, but seven million jobs by next November. Mr. Bush's employment policies would truly have been a success if he had left the job market no worse than he found it. In fact, even his own Treasury secretary thinks he'll fall five million or so jobs short of that mark. I know, I know, the usual suspects will roll out the usual explanations. It is, of course, Bill Clinton's fault. (Just for the record, the average rate of job creation during the whole of the Clinton administration was about 225,000 jobs a month. Mr. Clinton presided over the creation of 11 million jobs during each of his two terms.) Or maybe Osama bin Laden did it. But surely there must be a statute of limitations on these excuses." Not with the Busheviks!

"Expressing a confidence that goes well beyond the projections of many economists, Treasury Sec. John W. Snow[Job] has predicted that the American economy will add two million new jobs before next year's elections. In an interview with The Times of London on Monday, Mr. Snow predicted that the economy would grow at an annual rate of nearly 4% over the next year and add about 200,000 jobs a month. 'I would stake my reputation on employment growth happening before Christmas,' Mr. Snow said." ROTFL! Which of his reputations is he staking - the fool, the hypocrite, or the liar? According to the NY Times, "Mr. Snow went well beyond the general cheerfulness that Bush and administration officials have repeated for some time." WRONG! Bush's Council of Economic Advisers on 2/4/03 predicted 5.5 million jobs by the end of 2004 -344,000 new jobs each month, starting in July 2003 (jobwatch.org). There he lies again - Impeach Bush Now!

"21st Century Democrats is seeking Canvass Directors/Campaign Managers and Field Managers to work on an exciting new project in several targeted states. Join us to build a powerful grassroots movement to fight the Bush Administration's attacks on working families. Canvass Directors/Campaign Managers will build a team of Field Managers and staff to organize door-to-door canvasses, recruit members, fundraise and develop an earned media and grassroots lobbying strategy. They will be responsible for managing a budget, running a campaign office and training staff. Field Managers: This position is ideal for people interested in gaining valuable campaign experience while developing the skills for rapid advancement within the organization. Field managers will manage door-to-door canvassing teams, recruit members and volunteers and fundraise to build a grassroots lobbying movement to mobilize working families."

Economic Policy Institute reports, "The Bush Administration called the tax cut package, which took effect in July 2003, its 'Jobs and Growth Plan.' The resident's economics staff, the Council of Economic Advisers, projected that the plan would raise the level of growth enough to create 5.5 million jobs by the end of 2004 - 344,000 new jobs each month, starting in July 2003. Last month, September 2003, the jobs and growth plan fell 287,000 jobs short of the administration's projection. The cumulative shortfall since July 2003 - the amount by which the projected jobs exceeded actual job growth in August and September - is now 672,000... Since the recession began 30 months ago in March 2001, 3.2 million private sector jobs have disappeared, a 2.8% contraction. This is the largest sustained loss of jobs since the Great Depression."

Larry Bartels writes, "The Bureau of Labor Statistics has monitored the ups and downs in unemployment since the 1940s. The figures show that presidents can and do have a significant effect on the job prospects of working Americans. Simply put, these statistics indicate that high unemployment has been a chronic problem under Republican presidents. From 1947 through 2001, five Republican presidents produced an average unemployment rate of 6.3%, while five Democratic presidents produced an average unemployment rate of 4.8%. Regardless of the specific economic conditions and challenges facing each president, average unemployment rates have been more than 30% higher under Republicans than under Democrats. Given the current size of the civilian labor force, that difference suggests that there would have been more than 2 million more jobs under President Gore than there are now under Resident Bush."

21st Century Democrats writes, "State Directors will create statewide organizing campaigns that will build coalitions of progressive organizations, recruit and train candidates and activists, and develop an aggressive voter contact program that will accomplish issue education, issue ID, and voter registration in targeted swing and base communities. Responsibilities will include developing targeting and writing a campaign plan, writing a budget and in-state fundraising, political and press outreach, and training and managing staff. This position requires experience running a statewide campaign and strong leadership skills. Experience with fundraising, communications, voter file management, and issue or community organizing campaign experience is required. Candidates must be goal oriented and highly disciplined. - Salary commensurate with experience - Positions available June 1 - Email your cover letter, resume and three references to jobs@21stdems.org"

"Manufacturing is slowly disappearing in the United States... Why does this matter? Well, the essence of a great world power is its edge in producing not services but manufactured products that other people want... More than half of the manufactured goods that Americans buy are made abroad, up from 31 percent in 1987. If we continue on our path of ceasing to make merchandise that others want to buy from us, the danger is that these imports will be unaffordable for our descendants. [Given manufacturing's importance in maintaining our status as a world power, the downward trends are alarming. The public, nevertheless, focuses only occasionally on the dismantling.] 'Rust belt' and 'deindustrialization' were coined in the bitter debate that surrounded the frightening national experience" of 1980's job loss.

"White-collar employees have long believed their jobs were safe from the economic forces that have shifted millions of factory jobs to foreign countries in the last 30 years. Not anymore. It's not just clothing and electronics being made by workers in India, China [etc.]. Now, office and professional jobs are being shipped out... 'We're not just talking about call-center jobs, but all kinds of jobs,' says Deloitte Consulting analyst Christopher Gentle... These include high-paying, highly sought-after jobs that often require advanced degrees... But instead of paying six-figure salaries to trained workers in America, more companies are shelling out $10,000 to $20,000 to get cheaper employees an ocean away... [S]uch giants as IBM, Microsoft and Procter & Gamble are leading the pack... The trend represents a potentially seismic shift: In the next 15 years, [US] employers will move about 3.3 million white-collar jobs and $136 billion in wages abroad, according to Forrester Research."

"Microsoft Corp. is starting to shift US-based jobs to India as it seeks to lower technical support and development costs, the world's largest software maker said on Wednesday. Microsoft, long seen as a growing company immune to job losses, is now considering cutbacks in the United States while increasing staff in India, which turns out tens of thousands of English-speaking software engineers each year... Chairman Bill Gates announced $400 million in Indian investments over three years during a visit to [India] in November... The software giant is betting on India's vast pool of low-cost technical workers and engineers who can be hired for roughly one-fifth what their counterparts earn in the United States... Last week, Microsoft cut 161 jobs from its consulting services business and on Tuesday, unionized workers warned that Microsoft was planning to cut at least 800 employees from a facility in Texas."

"Even in bad times- the oil shock of 1973, or the stagflation of the the 1970's, or the Bush I recession (labeled by Bill Clinton the worst economy in 50 years)- payrolls continued, by and large, to rise. The only President whose term to span a downturn in payrolls was Herbert Hoover. The bad news for Bush is that even if the economy adds 2 million jobs by October 2004, he will still have presided over the only job-losing presidency since Hoover. As Karl Rove knows, that name is never good company for a president seeking re-election. Since 1900, the only incumbent Republican presidents to lose second-term bids have been named Hoover and Bush. Dubya: Bad for business, bad for America."

"Worn down by job searches that have stretched on for months, some unemployed people have simply stopped the search." NYT reports, "As the nation enters a third year of difficult economic times [which happens to coincide with the third year of the Bush Regime], these unemployed--from factory workers to investment bankers--have dropped out of the labor force and entered the invisible ranks of people not counted in the unemployment rate. Over the last two years, the portion of Americans in the labor force--those who are either working or actively looking for work--has fallen 0.9 percentage points to 66.2 percent, the largest drop in almost 40 years."

"The Democratic Party of Nebraska is accepting applications for a new Executive Director. We are in the process of rebuilding our state party organization from the ground up. We are looking for someone with a well-rounded background including direct experience in field operations, fundraising, and party administration. Familiarity with the latest developments in campaign technologies is a prerequisite. This is an excellent opportunity for an aggressive, energized individual to show what they can do when given a clean slate to work with. The deadline for applications is February 3rd, 2003. The candidate chosen should be prepared to start work by the end of March or early April. THE NEBRASKA DEMOCRATIC PARTY IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER. Interested candidates should send a resume including contact information for references to Jamie Mckown, Transition Director, Nebraska Democratic Party, 633 South 9th St., Suite 201, Lincoln, NE 68508. For more info: jamiem@nebraskademocrats.org"

Seeking to kill the messenger and hide the truth, the Bush Administration has defunded a program that highlights mass layoffs: "This is the final news release for the Mass Layoff Statistics (MLS) program. Since 1994, the Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration has funded the program. That funding will end on December 31, 2002. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has been unable to acquire funding from alternative sources and must discontinue the MLS program."

If you are interested in becoming a field organizer for 21st Century Democrats there is still time to apply! Field organizers are paid $1500 per month plus free housing. The campaigns will also reimburse you for gas. Applicants must have a car and be willing to relocate to one of our great election campaigns in a number of different states. If interested please send a resume and three references to maram@21stdems.org.

If you are interested in becoming a field organizer for 21st Century Democrats our next mandatory campaign training is July 12-14 here in metro DC area. Field organizers are paid $1500 per month plus free housing. The campaigns will also reimburse you for gas. Applicants must have a car and be willing to relocate to a close election campaign in a number of different states. If interested please send a resume and three references to maram@21stdems.org.