Bush admits economy poor

Speech follows report on job cuts

By Scott Lindlaw, Associated Press, 9/6/2003

INDIANAPOLIS -- President Bush said yesterday that discouraging new jobless figures made clear that "we've got to do something" about an economy that shows signs of recovery but is still shedding jobs.

"There are a lot of Americans looking for work, and we have to do something about that in Washington, D.C.," Bush said at a distribution center here.

He spoke a few hours after a new government report showed that while the civilian unemployment rate dropped from 6.2 percent to 6.1 percent, companies cut payrolls by 93,000, particularly in the manufacturing sector.

Bush said he saw hopeful signs such as rising business orders.

Job creation is often a lagging indicator, he said, "the last thing to arrive on the scene" in a recovery. And productivity is growing faster than job growth, meaning the economy is not expanding rapidly enough to create sufficient hiring, he said.

"Today's report shows we've got more to do and I'm not going be satisfied till every American who's looking for a job can find a job," Bush said.

The president said his plans would spur more hiring. Those include health care measures, streamlined regulations and restrictions on medical lawsuits, and a comprehensive energy plan, expanded trade, and tax breaks.

"While the signs are pretty good about our economy, there's still people looking for work, and we've got to do something about that," Bush said. Democratic rivals cited the new figures as evidence Bush's tax cuts have not boosted the economy.

"Unfortunately, we did not need further evidence that the economic policies of George W. Bush have failed working Americans," said presidential candidate Howard Dean. "These 93,000 Americans are only the latest victims of the administration's failed trickle-down ideology."

Added Representative Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri, another Democratic presidential contender: "The economy continues its downward spiral today with news of 93,000 jobs lost in August, the deepest job loss in the last five months, and the seventh straight month that employers have cut jobs."

Bush's trip here completed a trio of Midwest speeches on the economy and opened a fresh round of fund-raising to bolster his reelection bank account. Last night's fund-raiser was injecting another $1.5 million into a war chest worth at least $56 million.

The president had not headlined a fund-raiser for his campaign since Aug. 22. Yesterday, however, marked the start of a new round that shows he has no intention of slowing down before the end of the current fund-raising period on Sept. 30.

White House press secretary Scott McClellan said yesterday that the president will attend campaign events in Nashville on Monday; Jacksonville and Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Tuesday; Philadelphia on Sept. 15; and Cincinnati and Chicago on Sept. 30.