Thomas Daschle: “in the last 3 years, America has lost nearly 3 million private-sector jobs, including nearly 2.9 million good…”

“in the last 3 years, America has lost nearly 3 million private-sector jobs, including nearly 2.9 million good manufacturing jobs. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says there are 8.2 million Americans out of work today. But that doesn't include the millions of ``discouraged workers'' who have stopped looking for jobs. And it doesn't include millions more who are under-employed. All together, nearly 15 million American workers today are unemployed, under-employed, or have given up looking for work. A month ago, the President's Council of Economic Advisors released its annual report on the economy. It predicted that the economy would create 3.8 million new jobs this year. The President's own Labor and Commerce secretaries refused to endorse that prediction. Then the President himself backed away from those numbers. After 3 years of promising jobs that never materialized, the Bush administration won't even predict anymore how many jobs their policies will create. Last month, the economy added only 21,000 new jobs--every one of them in government. 21,000 new jobs. That is one job for every 389 Americans who need jobs. All over America, people who have lost jobs are draining their savings accounts, tapping their 401(k)s, and running up expensive credit card debt to try to make ends meet. The average length of unemployment is at a 20-year high. When people finally find work, it often involves a substantial cut in pay.”