Jobless claims fall as Obama releases economic report
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As the number of people seeking first-time unemployment claims fell, the Obama administration released its annual economic report Thursday, a document that praised government efforts to deal with dire problems that it said had been growing over the previous decade.
The report, which is signed by the president and is sent to Congress, predicts that the nation will likely average 95,000 more jobs each month this year but that the unemployment rate will continue to hover around 10%. The most recent monthly number was 9.7%.
The report also predicts that credit will remain tight, meaning problems for job creation and consumer purchases of big-ticket items, houses and cars. The Obama administration is pushing a jobs-creation package that includes tax cuts and a plan to help local banks with $30 billion in capital so that more lending to small businesses can take place.
The report also praised the $787-billion economic stimulus package, which it said has saved or created about 2 million jobs, a number that Republicans question. The GOP also has problems with the Obama administration often blaming the difficulty of the recovery on the enormity of the problem it inherited from the previous Republican administration.
“I can report that over the past year, this work has begun,” President Obama wrote in the letter accompanying the report. “But to understand where we must go in the next year and beyond, it is important to remember where we began one year ago.”
Christina Romer, chairwoman of the White House Council of Economic Advisors, echoed that theme in her statement. She formally presents the report to Obama.
“The economic challenges facing the nation when President Obama took office were among the greatest in our history,” Romer said. “But as great as the immediate challenges were, our country’s economic problems were also deeper and more long-standing.”
Republicans reacted coolly to the report.
“The Obama administration’s report is full of blame for the policies of years past, praise for its own failed policies of the past year and promises about their ideological agenda to grow government,” House Republican Whip Eric Cantor of Virginia stated.
“Instead of praising themselves and blaming others, a greater focus on small businesses and smart solutions to reduce uncertainty and create jobs would be welcomed and is long overdue,” Cantor said.
The Senate is weighing a jobs package, and the House has already passed a plan. Estimates of the cost range from $80 billion to $100 billion in the Senate to more than $150 billion in the House version.
The latest – but certainly not the last – round of political skirmishing over the economy came as the Labor Department said that first-time claims for unemployment insurance dropped by 43,000 to a seasonally adjusted 440,000.
The four-week average fell by 1,000 to 468,500, the first drop after three weeks of increases.
-- Michael Muskal
