Quayle Defends GOP’s Record, and His Own, for Creating Jobs

Going back to basics in a carefully scripted effort to highlight his proudest legislative achievement, Sen. Dan Quayle trooped through the upper Midwest on Monday, touting his job training program--and ever so delicately raising doubts about Michael S. Dukakis.

The Republican vice presidential nominee challenged critics of the Reagan Administration’s job-creation record. He used Democratic presidential nominee Dukakis’ trademark phrase--”good jobs at good wages”--to defend both the number and type of jobs developed since the economy began pulsing upward in the early 1980s.

According to Quayle, about 12 million of the 17 million jobs created since 1982 are in occupations that average more than $20,000 in annual salary.

Rotary Club Speech

“The quantity of new jobs is impressive--and it is undeniable, so our opponents attack their quality,” Quayle told more than 500 members of the Rotary Club here.

The senator said the newly created jobs, which critics have charged are mostly in the lower-paying service industries, afford an opportunity “not just to move down the line, but to move up the ladder.

“The new jobs in this growing economy are good jobs, not bad. . . . They’re good jobs at good wages and that’s a record to be proud of.”

While not mentioning Dukakis by name, Quayle did seek to depict the Massachusetts governor as a threat to continued economic growth and as an advocate of higher taxes.

“The heart of the man from Massachusetts may be in the right place but his hand’ll be back in your pocket if he makes it to the White House,” said the Republican vice presidential nominee.

The centerpiece of Quayle’s day was the Job Training Partnership Act, the 1982 bill he co-authored with Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) that provides funds for the training of displaced and unemployed workers.

‘Costs Less, Works Better’

Quayle said the JTPA program, which replaced the CETA jobs system, “costs less and works better.” But not all the evidence on JTPA is positive. The Labor Department’s Office of Inspector General reported earlier this year that JTPA was not targeting the hardest-to-place unemployed for training, and that half of all those who complete JTPA programs are unemployed within four months.