Wayne Allard: “Lately, we have heard a lot of politically motivated doom-and-gloom speeches... I think the economy is doing well. We…”

“Lately, we have heard a lot of politically motivated doom-and-gloom speeches... I think the economy is doing well. We would like to see it do better in some cases, but I think it is very positive news and we should not forget about that. The economy, at the first part of this month, posted job gains for each of the last 12 months, creating nearly 1.7 million jobs since August of 2003. These are the facts. The national unemployment rate fell to 5.4 percent in August, down .9 percentage from a peak of 6.3 point in June of 2003, and its lowest rate since October 2001. At 5.4 percent, the unemployment rate is below the average of the 1970s, 1980s, and the 1990s. In August, 144,000 new jobs were added. Nearly 1.7 million new jobs were added since August 2003. The unemployment rate over the last year was down in all regions and in 49 of the 50 States. The manufacturing sector, which was the hardest hit by the economic downturn, has added 107,000 jobs since January. We have turned this economy around.”