George W. Bush's position on

Unemployment: Final statistics on employment under the Bush administration forthcoming.

Description of Candidate's Position: George Bush's plan for creating opportunities for America's workers includes building a highly skilled workforce. He plans on a new bold direction in education reform. Bush wants to continue his No Child Left Behind Act as well as ensuring early childhood development for a successful start including more head start programs, promoting literacy, continuing fund research and increase minority research. Bush plans to improve America's high schools and make sure a diploma means something. He hopes to strengthen teaching as well as post-secondary education. As well as keeping low taxes and continuing to cut them, he wants to create opportunity zones for employment enabling tax benefits.

Quotation from the candidate: "A changing world means that the skills necessary to fill the jobs of the 21st century are changing, and it's something we've got to recognize. And a changing economy is one that creates new opportunities. But sometimes there's a skills gap. And that's why I believe we ought to expand access to our community college systems, to make sure that the workers have the skills necessary to fill the jobs of the 21st century. As well, most new jobs in a changing -- this changing world, require two years of college. Yet only one in four of our students gets there. And so we need early intervention programs in our high schools to solve problems early, before they're too late. We need to have new focus on math and science. As the No Child Left Behind Act begins to fill the education pipeline with good readers, we will require a rigorous exam before graduation from high school. See, what I'm telling you is, by raising performance in high schools and expanding Pell grants for low- and middle-income families, we will help more Americans start their career with a college diploma." September 9, 2004, from the George W. Bush website

Assessment of the Proposal:

Positive: The Council of Economic Advisors (CEA) agrees with Bush's tax relief on companies who have sent jobs overseas. They see it as an example of a new type of trade. The gains from trade that take place over the Internet or telephone lines are no different than the gains from trade in physical goods transported by ship or plane. A quote from The Economic Report of the President put out by the CEA reads, "If a good or service is done at a lower cost in another country, it makes sense to import it rather than produce it domestically. This allows the United States to devote is resources to more productive purposes." Link

Negative: Economic Policy Institute President Larry Mishel addressed the U.S. Senate stating many reasons why the economy has fallen and more and more are unemployed. Mishel says we need to increase governmental spending on unemployment by expanding unemployment insurance and increase the unemployment insurance system. Neither of these ideas are on Bush's plan to increase jobs and decrease unemployment in the United States. Kerry's plan, however, does call for both of these things to occur. Link

Comparision: George W. Bush sees the need to expand education and continue his already implemented programs including the No Child Left Behind Act and others that promote education with the young. Bush also plans to create opportunity zones for employment. However, John Kerry sees that jobs need to be stopped from going overseas as apart of his 10 million new jobs plan. He also wants to see more money being saved for those who are unemployed by providing more healthcare and better benefits to those unemployed.

Link to John Kerry's Issue Brief