Unemployment And Obama: Mr. Eight Percent And Counting!

By Grace Flores-Hughes, Voxxi

When President Obama was elected, one of the first declarations he made was that he would never allow the country’s unemployment rate to rise above eight percent.

Well, well, well. Here we are three and a half years into his presidency and the unemployment figures released by the Department of Labor last week once again showed more than eight percent of the nation’s population is unemployed.

That eight percent seems to follow Obama every where he goes. He cannot escape this reality and, if he wants to be reelected, this rate will have to change. Otherwise, those unemployed will flock to the voting booths and vote him out along with all the other disenchanted Americans who are either barely hanging on to their jobs or simply do not trust Obama to restart our economy.

Hispanic Americans fare no better among the unemployed.  Our unemployment rate is at 11 percent only three points below African Americans, who have the highest unemployed at approximately 14 percent.

Also among the most unemployed are those that have less than a high school diploma. Since we have the highest drop rate among all groups it is safe to say that our Latino youth are the most out of work among all Latinos. This should give us all pause about the nature of our population’s impact on this country’s economy now — and in the future. If Hispanics today are found mostly in low skill jobs, and many of our youth are unemployed, I am concerned that our population is doomed for limited workforce participation.

However, if we are to regain our foot in the labor market, we are going to have to train our youth to get jobs in those areas where there is the most demand. Whether it’s in manufacturing or in the technical field, we need to have our foot in the door sooner than later, otherwise we are going to be dependent on government assistance and government assistance can only last so long.

When I was growing up in south Texas during the 50’s and 60’s every person in my hometown of Taft who could, regardless of age and lack of education, worked and hardly expected the federal government to help them.

Today, unfortunately, the federal government is seen too often as the savior of the unemployed, the downtrodden, the unemployable, etc., etc., etc. This country was founded on the capitalistic theory; i.e., it is the private sector that creates jobs and in turn holds up the economy. The federal government does not create jobs, never has and never will.

We must pay close attention to the promises politicians make to jump start our economy and enable companies to hire again. We hear them often point out about the number of jobs that are outsourced to other countries. What these politicians need to worry about is why so many American companies go outside this country to get their work done. Isn’t it because our taxes are so high? Isn’t it because of so many federal rules and regulations that stymie a company’s growth rather than allow it to grow?

So much of what this country used to make is now made in places such as China, Pakistan, Mexico, India — and the list goes on. Yes, trade among friendly nations is important. But not at the risk of closing up all of our manufacturing shops in this country, where good-minded and hard-working people cannot find work.

We should put our politicians on notice that we no longer accept an eight percent or a six, or for that matter, a five percent unemployment rate. Further, we should take a hard look at those politicians that won’t take responsibility for this high unemployment rate and who, at the same time, don’t tell us how they are in fact going to fix this serious and on going problem. It’s all smoke and mirrors so far.

Let’s ask more questions and make more demands of the federal government to help companies stay in America and in turn hire those who have been out of work too long.

This article was first published in Voxxi.

Grace Flores-Hughes spent over three decades in public service. President George W. Bush appointed her in 2009 to be a member of the Federal Service Impasses Panel (FISP) of the Federal Labor Relations. In 2011 she wrote a memoir “A Tale of Survival.”