By: Marc Morial
President and CEO
National Urban League
If we needed any further proof that our economy is in dire need of emergency resuscitation, exactly four days after the presidential election the government reported a staggering loss of 240,000 jobs in the month of October, substantially more than the 200,000 job loss forecasted for the month. This past weekend, we also learned that 15,000 more jobs have already been eliminated in the first week of November. The unemployment rate is now at 6.5 percent, the highest level since 1994 and black unemployment is nearly double that at 11.1 percent.
More than 10 million Americans are now out of work and over the last 12 months, the number of unemployed has increased by 2.8 million. People who are out of work don't spend, can't pay their mortgages or plan for the future. It is clear, if we are ever going to dig ourselves out of the current financial mess we're in, we have to start with an immediate stimulus package that will create new jobs, particularly in urban communities.
This is not something that requires months of debate. And it's not something that should have to wait until a new President takes office. When President Bush requested an immediate $700 billion bail-out of Wall Street, the Congress acted with all deliberate speed. That bail-out, which was to unfreeze credit markets and spur spending, has not produced the promised immediate results. The President and Congress now need to act just as quickly to enact a stimulus package for the American people. This stimulus plan should include an extension of unemployment benefits, more help to states for infrastructure projects, a greater investment in summer jobs for at-risk youth, job training for disadvantage workers, and help for the stalled auto industry and the possible creation of a temporary public service program similar to the one that generated more than 100,000 jobs during the recession of 1974-75. These are actions that are absolutely necessary to help the growing number of unemployed and working poor in urban communities.
As reported in the November 9 edition of the New York Times, "
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