Pete Sessions: “You are not going to stay up there at 4.5 forever. But I think the numbers look pretty good. And we did it by investing…”

“You are not going to stay up there at 4.5 forever. But I think the numbers look pretty good. And we did it by investing and putting our faith in the private sector to create jobs and growth. It is pretty exciting. We don't know how the economy will go. President Bush, as I said, is not a magician. He can't make things happen by waving a magic wand. Any of us who have been around here long enough know that. You get blame and you get credit. Sometimes it is not the President's fault, sometimes it may be the Congress's fault. Sometimes it may be factors beyond any of our control, historic factors. Because we have had substantial productivity increases, which means we can produce more widgets for less investment and often fewer workers, that has made us competitive and helped our economy, but it has also placed stresses on job production. We have had particularly noticeable productivity increases in manufacturing. As a matter of fact, the whole world is seeing a decline in manufacturing jobs because plants can produce more products with fewer people at less cost. Since August of 2003, we have had 1.9 million new jobs created. But significantly, in the year 2004, we have had 97,000 new manufacturing jobs created. That is good. That is something we ought to be pleased about. Let me note that the unemployment rate has fallen to 5.4 percent. It was 6.3 percent last June. It is now 5.4 percent, which is lower than the average unemployment rate for the 1970s, 1980s, or the 1990s.”