Wrong way in May: Jobless rate goes up to 8.2 percent; Roskam statement

For the first time in a year, the unemployment rate has gone up--from 8.1 to 8.2 percent. Only 69,000 jobs were created. And I have to point out again that the White House promised that if its stimulus bill was enacted, the jobless rate would not exceed 8 percent. It's been over three years since is been below that level.

House Chief Majority Whip Peter Roskam (R-IL) made the following statement on this devastating news for Americans:

Following the news that the U.S. economy grew more slowly in the first quarter than first estimated, today's absolutely anemic jobs report shows that this is the recovery that wasn’t. Make no mistake, this is what the American people are focused on: jobs and the economy—not campaign gimmicks and distractions.

From the looming threat of the largest tax hike in history, to an energy policy that still puts us at the mercy of fluctuating gas prices, the private sector looks on the horizon and sees nothing but uncertainty. The policies of the last three years have failed the millions of Americans still out of work. It is time the White House and Senate Democrats join with House Republicans in removing barriers to job growth, and unleashing the recovery that is still possible.

UPDATE 1:45PM: US Rep. Bob Dold (R-IL) cut a video about the awful jobs numbers:

Stop The HIT also issued a statement about this bad news:

WASHINGTON, D.C. (June 1, 2012) – Today, the U.S. Department of Labor announced that the national unemployment rate for May increased to 8.2 percent and added only 69,000 jobs. The Stop The HIT Coalition issued the following statement:

"If lawmakers in Washington truly want meaningful progress in national job numbers they will repeal job-eliminating burdens such as the HIT from small businesses. The grim news is far below May forecasts and further underscores the need to repeal the HIT and protect our nation's small businesses. It is time for Congress to remove this burden from our nation’s job creators."

Originally sold to the public as a tax on large insurance companies to cover the added costs of the healthcare reform law, the $87 billion HIT applies only to the insurance policies purchased by nearly all small businesses, making it a pass-through tax on small businesses. If not repealed by 2014, the HIT will have serious consequences for the economy at large, including:

• The loss of nearly 250,000 U.S. jobs and $30 billion in sales by the year 2021 according to the NFIB Research Foundation;
• A $400 annual reduction in the take-home pay of the average small business employee with a family plan according to the Joint Committee on Taxation;
• Lack of hiring – a recent Gallup survey of small business owners found that nearly half of all those not hiring cited the rising cost of healthcare as the primary reason.

Bipartisan legislation repealing the HIT continues to gain momentum in Congress. Sens. John Barrasso (R-WY), Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) introduced the “The Jobs and Premium Protection Act,” and Reps. Charles Boustany (R-LA) and Dan Boren (D-OK) introduced companion House legislation that has more than 140 bipartisan cosponsors.

The Stop The HIT Coalition represents the nation’s small business owners, their employees and the self-employed who are actively working to repeal the Health Insurance Tax. Since the Coalition’s formation last May, it has grown to include more than 35 national organizations, representing millions of small business owners across the country. The Coalition’s website enables small business owners and employees to sign a petition and write a letter to their Representatives in Washington urging them to repeal this tax.

Learn more at www.StopTheHIT.com.

Bill Wilson of Americans for Limited Government added his observations as well.

"Today's Labor Department report on unemployment is devastating to Obama's re-election chances. His economy is dead in the water, and is not producing enough jobs to meet the needs of those entering the workforce. Yet, all Obama has to offer is more of the same policies that have failed in Europe and are now failing in America.

Aside from nation's payroll employment only increasing by a paltry 69,000, far short of the 150,000 needed to meet the monthly needs of the economy, the number of Americans who have been unemployed long-term is up to 5.4 million and almost one in four teenagers who want a job are unemployed.

The devastating result of Obama's failed policies is seen in the despair of America's workers who are losing their skills while they sit on the job sideline, and in the frustration of teenagers who are unable to gain the necessary experience to be productive in the future.

Truly, a sad legacy for a presidency that is long on rhetoric, but short on basic understanding of the free market principles that have built our nation's middle class and have made our nation great. Somehow, Obama must have missed those classes while debating theory in Harvard's Ivory Towers with like-minded elitists."

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