Kerry will have to import workers to fulfill job promise

Bozeman Daily Chronicle ^ | 3/30/2004 | Mike Comstock

[Thanatos]

Kerry will have to import workers to fulfill job promise

By Mike Comstock

Friday's Chronicle had an article titled, "Kerry promises to create 10 million jobs." That sounds a little ambitious to me, so I decided to do the math and check it out, since journalists lately seem to take everything the left says at face value.

The Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics Web site says that the current employment/population ratio is 62 percent. According to the U.S. Census Bureau Web site, the total U.S. population is 285 million. So 62 percent of that would be 176 million workers in the U.S.

Also according to the DOL Web site, the February unemployment rate in the U.S. is a surprisingly low 5.6 percent, a number the press apparently has underreported. So 5.6 percent of 176 million workers would be 9.8 million workers out of work. And that percentage appears to be heading lower.

So if we are to believe John Kerry will create 10 million jobs, not only will he have to lower unemployment to zero percent, but he'll have to find 200,000 extra workers that we currently do not have. And that's assuming that unemployment doesn't decrease in the coming months as most economists predict it will. That's one mighty big rabbit to pull out of a hat there, John.

Mike Comstock

Bozeman

[ladtx]

Alright!! Kerry promises an unemployment rate of +.02%. Hmmm wonder how that works? Does that mean that some of us will be forced to take another job, whether we need it or not?

[Piquaboy]

I am sure that all those foreign leaders who endorsed him will be glad to send him some help.

[Adrastus]

Mr Kerry seems to pull all sorts of things from his, er ah, hat these days.Following the time honored tradition of past dems, he manufactures his figures as needed for the gullible.

[martinidon]

How many of the 5.6% unemployed really want to work? In my opinion I would say a majority of the 5.6% do not want to work or do not want to re-enter the workforce.

[Redcoat LI]

Chirac will send millions of Frenchmen to help his Buddy,Jean Kerri.

My children need wine!

[Restorer]

There is some amount of unemployment that is inherent. If only someone walking across the street in the process of changing jobs. If absolutely everyone who wanted a job had one, the rate would still probably be 2% or so.

It's not possible to get the unemployment rate down to zero.

[cynicom]

Bush is importing them for Kerry, so not to worry.

[q_an_a]

what is left out in these numbers are young people that enter the job market during this time. unemployment would be in the 3% range with 10 million jobs.

[Badeye]

The Junior Senator from France will say anything. This is just another day in the life of delusion liberals.

The problem for Democrats is actually very simple. With an unemployment rate under 6% they don't have a case to make concerning the economy.

[expat_panama]

what is left out in these numbers are young people that enter the job market during this time. unemployment would be in the 3% range with 10 million jobs.

It's funny that nobody talked about the discouraged, teenage, immigrant workers the last time the Dem's were running for a second term.

All we ever heard about was how good everything was.  It wasn't. Bush-bashers have decided that Republicans are evil and nothing matters except defeating bush.  It's ok to lie, to put people out of work, cause enormous suffering-- the only goal is to bash bush.

[international american]

"Bush-bashers have decided that Republicans are evil and nothing matters except defeating bush. It's ok to lie, to put people out of work, cause enormous suffering-- the only goal is to bash bush."

Not to mention compromising national security!

[driftless]

The economic "experts" used to say that under six percent was full employment. Of course Dems keep moving the goal line. No Dem was shouting about jobs when the unemp-rate was almost exactly the same at the start of Clinton's second term as it is now. In truth the Dems have no issues except spite and the usual lust for power.

[usurper]

My children need wine!

Blessed are the cheese makers.

I am referring of course to manufactures of all dairy products.

[big bad easter bunny]

Kerry is shooting for less than zero unemployment, a economic impossibility!

[KC_for_Freedom]

As I understand his plan, (forget the promise, thats just spin), Kerry will bring jobs home from foreign companies by using the power to tax to compell CEOs and boards of directors to stop having work done overseas. In return for letting Washington manage their decisions, these companies get a 2.5 % corporate tax cut. (A tax that they collect for the shareholders but which the shareholders get taxed again on when they receive dividends.)

In using the power of government to compell, we are saying the government can make better decisions than the businesses themselves but we have never seen the government make a better decision, so I don't believe Kerry at all.

[expat_panama]

Not to mention compromising national security!

Wait a second, are we questioning their patriotism or only their ill chosen priorities and lack of judgment?  

Well, I'll question the value of a patriotism that's so devoid of judgment.

[international american]

Correct!