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Obama Enters 2012 Race on Good News About Jobs

June 6th, 2011 at 07:39am Under Economy Report

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This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

Most of the news in Washington this week was about the budget talks to prevent a shutdown of many government services at midnight Friday. But this week, President Obama also announced his plans to seek re-election in November of next year.

In an e-mail to supporters, Mr. Obama said “the race may not reach full speed for a year or more.” But he said the work of building the campaign “must start today.”

Some of that work will depend on how many jobs are created in the months ahead. Mr. Obama welcomed last Friday’s report that the United States economy added two hundred sixteen thousand jobs in March. The unemployment rate dropped one-tenth of one percent for the second straight month.

The Labor Department says unemployment is now 8.8 percent, the lowest in two years. And some economists say this spring may be the start of better news to come. Consumer spending has increased eight months in a row.

Stephen Hess is a political scientist who studies the presidency at the Brookings Institution in Washington.

STEPHEN HESS: “The next election will, more than anything else, depend on employment in the United States.”

Labor Secretary Hilda Solis called attention to the fact that the economy has added jobs for twelve months in a row.

HILDA SOLIS: “We need to be reminded that we’ve added jobs — 1.5 million private sector jobs, and that, I think, it’s right where we need to be. But we need to continue to not lose sight of where we need to go to increase opportunities for people to get employed in new jobs.”

This week, President Obama filled a top job in his party. He chose Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida to head the Democratic National Committee. She replaces Tim Kaine who plans to run for the Senate from Virginia next year.

Among Republicans, former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty recently formed a committee to explore a presidential campaign. Several other Republicans are also considering races for their party’s nomination.

The latest jobs report showed that thirteen and a half million Americans remained unemployed in March. Another concern is that oil prices remain over one hundred dollars a barrel. High energy prices could threaten the recovery from the recession.

This week, Portugal became the latest member of the European Union with heavy debts to request emergency loans. Opposition parties refused to accept budget cuts proposed by Prime Minister Jose Socrates two weeks ago.

Portugal’s borrowing costs rose sharply Wednesday as it sold almost one and a half billion dollars in short-term securities. Portugal may seek more than one hundred billion dollars in loans, joining Greece and Ireland in receiving aid.

And that’s the VOA Special English Economics Report. I’m Doug Johnson.

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Contributing: Mil Arcega, Jim Malone, Carolyn Presutti and Mario Ritter

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Obama Looks to Exports, Hoping to Create Jobs

August 19th, 2010 at 07:00am Under Economy Report

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This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

The International Monetary Fund has raised its prediction for world economic growth to four and six-tenths percent this year. That is a half-percentage point higher than the estimate in April.

The IMF credited expansion in Asia and growing demand in the United States. But the lender’s chief economist also warned that “downside risks have risen sharply.”

President Obama talked this week about the importance of building exports as a way to create jobs and economic growth at home.

BARACK OBAMA: “American exports grew almost seventeen percent over the first four months of this year, compared to the same period last year. Part of this, of course, is due to the global recovery. But we are also moving forward on improving conditions for America’s exporters.”

Mr. Obama re-launched the President’s Export Council. The group includes business and labor leaders who will advise on trade issues.

Last week the government reported that private employers added only eighty-three thousand jobs in June. Unemployment remains high even after six months of job growth. As the president points out, there are still five unemployed workers for each job opening.

Export-related jobs, he said, pay fifteen percent more than average. In two thousand eight, American exports supported almost seven percent of all jobs, including one-third of jobs in manufacturing.

In January, in his State of the Union speech, President Obama promised to double exports in five years. In his comments Wednesday, he said the United States must work to remove trade barriers and open new markets.

BARACK OBAMA: “Ninety-five percent of the world’s customers and fastest-growing markets are beyond our borders. So if we want to find new growth streams, if we want to find new markets and new opportunity, we have got to compete for those new customers, because other nations are competing for those new customers.”

He said the United States offers some of the world’s lowest barriers to trade — and expects free and fair access to other countries in return.

In late June, the World Trade Organization ruled that Airbus received billions in illegal European aid. The ruling was a victory for its American competitor Boeing.

American lawmakers have also long complained that China suppresses the value of the yuan to lower the price of its exports. China recently promised to let the yuan trade more freely against the dollar.

China passed Germany to become the world’s top exporting country last year. The United States was third.

Some American companies have been doing well in developing markets. For the first time, General Motors has announced higher sales in China, the world’s largest car market, than in the United States.

And that’s the VOA Special English Economics Report, by Mario Ritter with Kent Klein. I’m Steve Ember.

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