The poll’s findings paint a deeply troubled portrait of the U.S. labor force, with many saying they’ve had to settle for jobs that pay far less than their prerecession work. One-third said their salaries were cut by 30 percent or more.
The Obama administration paints a rosier picture of the economy, pointing to puny monthly job creation numbers, but they do not mention that half the jobs are lower paying or part-time.
The bleak reality is that of the 12 million unemployed in the country, nearly 5 million have been without work longer than six months.
An incredible 86 percent of those surveyed said they did not expect to see well-paying jobs ever again, or at least for many years.
When asked what kind of policies could turn the nation’s economy around, many suggest tax credits to employers who hire new workers, more education and job training programs, or increased funding for public jobs.
Yet all of these proposals were major parts of Mr. Obama’s failed economic stimulus program over the past four years, with little to show for it. Unemployment rose last month to nearly 8 percent, and the Commerce Department said the economy stopped growing in the last three months of 2012.
If you think the president will soon be proposing policies to expand the economy and reduce unemployment levels, or offer a budget to end five years of unprecedented deficits, don’t hold your breath.
Mr. Obama has given us no indication that he will be offering a serious jobs plan in the future, and for the third straight year he has missed the deadline for sending a budget up to Capitol Hill. The White House earlier this week refused to say when he would release his 2014 spending plan.
Four years after he was first sworn into office, he remains a bystander in the most critical economic issues of our time.
Donald Lambro is a syndicated columnist and former chief political correspondent for The Washington Times.
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'Your papers, please' must never be heard in America
By Susan Crabtree - The Washington Times
President Obama forgot to return the salute of a U.S. Marine while boarding Marine One Friday morning, then came back out to shake the Marine’s hand, according to a tweet by CBS News’ Mark Knoller.
