President Tempers Enthusiasm on the Economy

President Bush expressed restrained optimism about the economy Friday, saying new figures showing a strong boost in employment marked “the beginning of good news for job seekers.”

“Things are beginning to brighten up for people looking for work, which is positive,” Bush told an audience at a community college, where he touted federal job retraining efforts. “And therefore, we must make sure that people are trained for jobs that exist.”

But on the whole, Bush refrained from reveling in the new data, which showed that the unemployment rate had dropped to 6% in October, its lowest rate since April, and that the economy had created 126,000 jobs.

One reason for the president’s reticence, aides suggested, was his sensitivity to the particularly bad employment picture in this region of North Carolina, which has seen its largest industries -- textiles and tobacco -- lose thousands of jobs in recent years. The region’s unemployment rate was 6.8% in the third quarter, significantly higher than the national rate.

A second reason for restraint was that the White House feels it would be imprudent for the president to tie his political fortunes to every upturn and downturn in the economic statistics. Such action would give his political opponents ammunition during the coming election year, especially if the economy takes a turn for the worse.

Bush chose to visit Forsyth Technical Community College on the day the unemployment figures were released to try to focus public attention on the role of worker retraining in job creation.

“The economy has obviously taken its toll on parts of North Carolina,” Bush told the audience at the start of a partly scripted dialogue with displaced textile workers, educators and local business executives. “The manufacturing sector has been hit. The textile sector has been hit. People have lost work. And yet in other sectors of the economy here in North Carolina, [jobs] are growing. We’ve got to make sure we’re able to match the skills and talent and drive of North Carolina citizens with the jobs of the future.”

The president praised three students on the stage -- all former textile workers -- who are pursuing degrees in biotechnology and medical transcription as part of a $750,000 federal jobs retraining grant to the college. The students also receive assistance under the Trade Adjustment Assistance program, which is part of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

“You made the decision to go back to school, which isn’t easy, particularly for an old guy like you,” Bush told 33-year-old Scott Hiner, who was laid off this year after 15 years of work at a large yarn company.

“There’s a lot of government help out there. You just have to go find it,” Hiner replied.

Bush argued that productivity gains by American businesses mean that some sectors, like manufacturing, will continue to shed jobs even as the economy grows.

“As our society, particularly [the] North Carolina economy, shifts from textiles to biotechnology, the pay gets better,” Bush said. “All we’ve got to do is bridge from the textile sector to the biotechnology sector with smart education practices. And that’s what we’re here talking about.”

Bush faces potential electoral trouble in this part of North Carolina. Although he carried the state in 2000, local leaders, including Republicans, have complained that his administration has not done enough to prevent the decline in U.S. manufacturing jobs, including not pressing China to reduce currency controls that make American exports more expensive.

“The textile industry closed eight plants within the last month, even as textile and apparel imports from China were doubling from their already high levels of a year ago,” Cass Johnson, the acting president of the American Textile Manufacturers Institute, said in a statement.

In his remarks, Bush suggested that he did not expect a rebound in the textile industry, and that the best long-term solution for the region was to retrain workers for other fields.

“The job mix is changing,” Bush said. “The economy, as it grows, sometimes there’s a different shift in the type of jobs available.”

The format of the meeting was an unusual one for the president, whose public addresses are usually delivered standing behind a lectern.

Instead, Bush sat in the middle of a horseshoe of seven participants, all perched on stools and holding microphones in their hands. It was a kind of “town hall” format that could become more common in the coming election year.

Bush appeared somewhat awkward at times but bantered gamely with the students and their teachers, even as he sought to get his own message across.

“It’s not easy to stand up in front of all these cameras, I know, although the cameramen are fine people,” Bush said as he closed the session. “But you were able to help us make a point -- that people who have lost work should have hope. That with a little initiative, a little ingenuity, a little drive, there’s help for you.”

Bush opened his North Carolina visit by attending a fund-raiser for his 2004 reelection campaign.

The chicken salad luncheon at Winston-Salem’s convention center raised $1.1 million. Vice President Dick Cheney raised an additional $750,000 at two Texas fund-raisers Friday -- one in Austin, the other in Houston.

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Times staff writer Edwin Chen in Washington contributed to this report.