Employment Numbers of Last August

On Sep 4, secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis issued the August 2009 Employment Situation report, on which, she stated that during past August, the economy lost 216,000 jobs, fewer than what most experts expected. Now the overall unemployment rate is 9.7 percent.

Since this administration took office, the economy had been losing average 700,000 jobs every month, so the job loss of last month is an improvement, “but is still by no means acceptable”, said Hilda L. Solis, "These numbers are a sobering reminder that our economic conditions continue to cause pain for many Americans and that families are having a difficult time simply covering their daily necessities, much less planning for the future.”

One of the Department of Labor’s principal goals is to help those people that have lost their jobs until there is a full recovery that includes sustained job growth. They have taken some measures to protect workers, such as extending the number of weeks available for unemployment insurance, increasing the monthly benefit amount by an extra $25 a week, strengthening social safety net by subsidizing 65 percent of COBRA premiums and providing new training opportunities for workers, so that the unemployed can more easily access health insurance.

At the same time, the Recovery Act has also provided much needed aid to states and has spurred work on shovel-ready projects. Sep 3 marked the 200-day milestone of the Recovery Act, and Vice President Biden announced that all 10 agencies met or exceeded their commitments in our roadmap to recovery.

Hilda L. Solis also mentioned that “We still have a long way to go until we can say that the economy is back on track and everyone has access to a good job, but I am confident that we will reach that goal. And I will make sure that the Department of Labor is standing by, supporting workers every step of the way."

Obama Speeds Up Stimulus Spending

President Barack Obama announced plans on June 8 to accelerate stimulus spending to save or create 600,000 jobs over the next 100 days, four times the number created or saved in the first 100 days since the plan was signed into law on February 17.

The announcement came days after the government reported that the number of unemployed continues to rise. The Labor Department reported that U.S. unemployment rose to 9.4 percent in May, even though job losses last month slowed to 345,000. The rate is the highest in more than 25 years. Hundreds of thousands of Americans continue to lose jobs each month, although fewer jobs were lost last month than expected.

"We've got a long way to go, but I feel like we've made great progress," Obama said at a White House meeting with Vice President Joe Biden and cabinet officials aimed at highlighting gains made since Congress passed the massive stimulus package in February. Obama has claimed as many as 150,000 jobs saved or created by his stimulus plan so far, even as government reports have shown the economy has lost more than 1.6 million jobs.
The White House estimates the $787 billion Recovery and Reinvestment Act that Democrats pushed through Congress with little Republican support will create or save 3 million to 4 million jobs by early 2011.