Bill Clinton: “Good morning, everyone. I have always thought the best social policy was a good job. And with our national economic…”

“Good morning, everyone. I have always thought the best social policy was a good job. And with our national economic strategy that was adopted last year by Congress, we have been creating millions of those jobs. Today we can see that in the report that the Nation's unemployment rate has fallen to 5.8 percent, its lowest level in 4 years. And while we still have more work to do to make this economy, work for all Americans, it's clear that progress has been made. While we have been shrinking the Government and reducing the deficit, America has been growing the economy. More than 5 million new jobs have been created in the last 21 months, more jobs in high-wage industries this year alone than in the previous 5 years combined. Had we listened to the doubters, this progress never would have been made. Those who opposed our economic plan argued that growth would stall, that jobs would be lost, that the deficit would go up. They were plain wrong. We have delivered what the American people have long wanted: lower deficits, $100 billion lower than predicted; strong growth, nearly 4 percent a year since I assumed office; and with the new revision, over 5 million jobs, 5 times as many per month as were created in the previous administration. Of course the real heroes in all this are the American people, the workers and their firms who have made America the most competitive economy in the world, the heroes in the auto industries whose facilities are filled today with more workers than they've had since 1979. And for the first time since 1979, American automobile companies have outsold their Japanese competitors all around the world. The heroes are the people who are working full-time, even though they live on modest wages. This improving employment picture is, in short, a credit to the hard work and the responsibility and the productivity of working Americans, as well as to the partnership that our Government has established with the private sector. We have to continue with this economic policy that puts people first. It is working. Republican Contract With America”