720,000.
That's how many people last month gave up.
They've stopped looking for jobs.
The Labor Department today reported that participation in the labor force is at a 35-year low.
Obama's economic policies aren't working. And that means millions of Americans aren't working either.
That
720,000 people gave up looking for a job last month is a crushing
indictment of President Obama's indifference to the working-class and
low-income Americans. Millions of American families are feeling the
squeeze from Obama's failed economic policies and have given up trying
to find a job.
And there's more.
Today's devastating
jobs report comes on the heels of a report issued Wednesday by the
Census Department. That agency said the nation's poor had been
underestimated by about 3 million, meaning that the true number of
Americans living in poverty was actually
49.5 million.
With nearly 50 million Americans in poverty, Barack Obama has become the Poverty President.
After
five years, it is clear that Obama has no credible economic plan and
nothing to offer America’s most vulnerable other than more of the same.
The
swelling number of unemployed has not only resulted in protracted
economic hardship for many American families, but it's also brought
immeasurable suffering to people who feel robbed of the dignity that
comes from work.
Pope Francis recently said that honest work was
essential to a person's dignity. That's why unemployment should never
be thought only as a number. We're talking about real people, neighbors,
friends and their families – struggling under today's economic
policies. Every minute of inaction and gridlock from Washington only
causes more pain.
Visiting the Italian island of Sardinia in
late September, Pope Francis spoke to 20,000 workers who had recently
lost their jobs. He said: “It's easy for a priest to come and tell the
poor to have courage,” said the Holy Father. But he assured those
present he really meant it, and called for dignified work for all.
“Where there is no work” said Pope Francis “there is no dignity.”
For
a record number of Americans, there is simply no work, and therefore no
dignity. For the sake of our fellow citizens, it’s time we face reality
and demand real change.
Brian
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