Sputtering job growth
THE LATEST figures on job growth represent a setback for President Bush, who has been telling campaign crowds that his tax cuts are responsible for economic recovery. Neither he nor Senator John Kerry has quick solutions for the doldrums the economy appears to have entered. Kerry, however, offers better approaches to energy independence and health insurance, two areas that are closely tied to the job market.
The Labor Department reports that only 32,000 jobs were created by US companies in July. The unexpectedly low figure continued a trend that began in April following a spike in job growth earlier in the year.
One factor in the slowdown may be the diminishing impact of the tax cuts Bush shepherded through Congress. The cuts were a scatter-shot approach to quick growth. Geared to the wealthy, they didn't target those who would spend the money immediately.
People of modest means are also the ones most affected by the surge in oil prices. George Mahoney of
US oil production has declined by more than 30 percent over the last two decades, while foreign demand has soared. Bush's answer is to squeeze extra production from inadequate American fields. His plan would do little to moderate high fuel prices.
Kerry would rather try to move the economy away from oil use and toward alternative energy sources. His approaches offer the prospect that the link between economic growth and oil prices can be severed and that new, home-grown energy technologies will lead to good jobs.
That would be a change from the past three years, when job growth has appeared centered on low-paying, often part-time work, often lacking comprehensive health insurance -- a prerequisite of most secure jobs. Many employers are deterred from hiring full-time workers by the high cost of health coverage.
Bush on his campaign website offers enhanced health savings accounts and an inadequate proposal for tax credits, neither much help to low-paid workers.
Kerry would make better use of tax credits by offering them to employers as an incentive to cover low-wage workers. And to make the policies cost less, Kerry would have the federal government assume much of the cost of catastrophic coverage.
Presidential candidates have a propensity to promise limitless prosperity, but neither Bush nor Kerry can guarantee that. With his energy and health care plans, however, Kerry offers better proposals to remove an impediment to long-term growth and reduce a burden on US employers.
