President Obama used his weekly address to once again tout the monthly unemployment numbers released Friday.
The 314,000 private-sector jobs created in November put the total new jobs for the year at 2.65 million, the most for a year since the 1990s, Obama said. It’s the tenth straight month of more than 200,000 monthly jobs created.
{mosads}“Overall wages are on the rise,” Obama said in the Saturday speech.
“And that’s some very welcome news for millions of hardworking Americans because even though corporate profits and the stock market have hit all-time highs, the typical family isn’t bringing home more than they did 15 years ago.”
The GOP quickly criticized the jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said 300,000 jobs should be the minimum created each month.
“Today’s jobs report shouldn’t be an aberration; it should be the norm,” Priebus said in a statement. The public sector created another 7,000 jobs in November.
But while Obama framed the job growth as welcome news for the early holiday season, he warned that if Congress does not pass a spending bill, the government would shut down a week after Christmas.
He also called on the next Congress to pass policies that create jobs.
“Building new roads and bridges creates jobs. Growing our exports creates jobs. Reforming our outdated tax system and our broken immigration system creates jobs,” he said.
“Raising the minimum wage would benefit nearly 28 million American workers, giving them more money to spend at local businesses — and that helps those businesses create jobs.”
He closed his address by trumpeting other economic successes throughout his time in office, in expanding health insurance coverage, clean energy, manufacturing and education, among other accomplishments.
“We are going to keep it up until every American feels the gains of a growing economy where it matters most — in your own lives,” he said.