WEEKLY ADDRESS VIDEO: Building Upon the Legacy of Labor Day

buzzz worthy. . .

This Labor Day, the employment situation on America is leaves room for great improvement.  White jobs are on the rise, wage growth is slow. The U.S.  Department of Labor and Statistics has summarized the employment situation coming out of the month of August as follows:

The economy added 151,000 jobs in August, as the unemployment rate and labor force participation both held steady.

The economy added 151,000 jobs in August following robust job growth in both June and July as the unemployment rate held steady at 4.9 percent. U.S. businesses have now added 15.1 million jobs since early 2010, and the longest streak of total job growth on record continued in August. So far in 2016, job growth has averaged a solid 182,000 jobs a month, well above the pace of about 80,000 jobs a month needed to maintain a low and stable unemployment rate, and hourly earnings for private-sector workers have increased at an annual rate of 2.8 percent, much faster than the pace of inflation. Nevertheless, more work remains to sustain faster wage growth and to ensure that the benefits of the recovery are broadly shared, including investing in infrastructure, implementing the high-standards Trans-Pacific Partnership, and raising the minimum wage.

WASHINGTON, DC — In this week’s address, President Obama commemorated Labor Day by highlighting the economic progress we’ve made over the course of his administration. Over the past seven and a half years, we've rescued our economy from another depression, cut our unemployment rate in half, and unleashed the longest string total job growth on record. The President said that although the country has made significant progress, there’s still work to do in the years to come. He emphasized that despite the boisterous political season, we must not lose sight of the policies that will actually help working families get ahead. President Obama said if we are going to restore the sense that hard work is rewarded with a fair shot to get ahead, we must build on the legacy of those who came before us – that means exercising our right to speak up in the workplace, to join a union, and to vote.

In this weekly address the president also noted the areas in which the nation must improve.  Obama addressed wage disparity and family leave, two issues that current presidential candidates must address with voters for America's future.

Said Obama, "As a country, we’ve got some choices to make.  Do we want to be a country where the typical woman working full-time earns 79 cents for every dollar a man makes – or one where they earn equal pay for equal work?  Do we want a future where inequality rises as union membership keeps falling – or one where wages are rising for everybody and workers have a say in their prospects?  Are we a people who just talk about family values while remaining the only developed nation that doesn’t offer its workers paid maternity leave – or are we a people who actually value families, and make paid family leave an economic priority for working parents?"