Conyers Counters So-Called 'Upbeat' Employment Report Working and Middle-Class Families Still Reeling from Bush Economy, Congressman Says

Washington, DC - "The Labor Department issued its April employment report last week, which many in this administration have happily deemed 'better than expected.' The report highlights a modest increase in overall employment, marking the creation of 274,000 jobs during the month.

But this is no time to celebrate. Even with the number of jobs created, we saw no reduction in unemployment, which remained at its 5.2 percent mark, a sign that we are still well behind our normal pace of job growth during a period of economic recovery. It is disappointing that the administration continues to ignore the persistent decline in average hourly wages after adjusting for inflation, which is a much truer measure of our working people's standard of living.

While the price of everything from gas to milk continues to rise steadily, putting a squeeze on working-class family budgets, wages have not kept up with this inflation. The American worker's paycheck simply has less buying power today than it did last year, and there is no sign that this trend will end any time soon. Worse yet, the gap between the earnings of workers in the bottom 10th percentile of earnings distribution and those in the top 10th percentile has grew larger last month, according to the report. In fact, only the highest earners saw any real increase in wage earnings in the past year.

Additionally, the problem of unemployment has become far more complex than a mere percentage can indicate. Though employment has increased in most sectors of the economy, the United States continues to lose manufacturing jobs - another 6,000 in April, bringing the total lost over the last four years to 2.8 million. In this frustrating economy, many have given up on finding employment, a group that includes as many as 5.1 million Americans. On average, someone who enters unemployment will stay there for five months, the longest average time span in 20 years.

I am also troubled by the recent report from the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University, which shows that our nation's youth are experiencing the worst levels of unemployment we've ever seen. Any modest job growth that occurred last month has sidestepped an entire generation, who are finding it harder and harder to get their footing in this economy. While the headlines we read praise our "upbeat" economy, our true concern should be for the American working families, especially the young workers, who have fallen farther behind. I, like the president, want to be able to read a labor report that shows our economy truly turning a corner. This, however, is not that report."

###05-13-2005###