Government officials say the darndest things and when you are a Cabinet Secretary in the Bush Administration, that goes double. Idiotic moron Secretary Elaine Chao told the press yesterday that the giant leap in unemployment numbers has nothing to do with Bush's failure of a Presidency, horrific foreign policy or environmental record. Instead, it's those damn kids fault.
From ThinkProgress:
According to new Department of Labor data released today, the U.S. unemployment rate rose from 5.0 to 5.5 percent in May, which was higher than the expected 0.1 percent jobless rate increase. It was also the largest jump in unemployment since 1986. Labor Secretary Elaine Chao put out a statement today, attempting to explain the jump. Her answer? Blame America’s youth:Today’s increase in the unemployment rate reflects the fact that unusually large numbers of students and graduates are entering the labor market.
Chao is just trying to hide bad news. These unemployment numbers are not good, nor are they normal. As Center for American Progress Director of the American Worker Project David Madland told ThinkProgress, unemployment isn’t just for young people:
The unemployment rate for prime-working age adults – people from 25 to 54 – also increased in May, rising from 4.2 percent to 4.4 percent. In addition, the share of this age group that was employed fell slightly from 79.6 percent to 79.5 percent.
Similarly, Jared Bernstein at EPI noted that “even if we take teenagers out of the data, unemployment still rises from 4.5% to 4.8%, a considerable 0.3% increase, and well above the 4.0% adult rate of one year ago.”
Elaine Chao, like her boss is running out of excuses and this one is just pathetic. If she were more competent, both as a Cabinet member and a caring human being, creating a stronger labor force would have fought back against the demands of Corporate America to exploit as many workers as possible. Also, since this is Chao's Labor Department, who knows if the numbers in the study actually reflect the true scope of the problem?
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