Alexander: “The President’s Policies are Hurting American Workers”
Says unemployment rate still above 7 percent, lowest workforce participation rate since Carter was president, employers cutting hours and payrolls to survive Obamacare
WASHINGTON, Sept. 16—The senior Republican on the U.S. Senate labor committee released the following statement on the President’s speech today on the economy:
Sen. Lamar Alexander (R. Tenn) said: “The president’s policies are hurting American workers. Today, 7.3 percent of Americans qualify as unemployed, while millions more have taken part-time work because that is all they can find, and so many have given up searching for work entirely that the rate of workers participating in the job market is at its lowest since Jimmy Carter was president. Employers are cutting hours and payrolls to survive Obamacare, and the president’s latest push for a massive increase in the minimum wage will only destroy opportunities for the young and the low-skilled in order to pay fewer people more money.”
He continued: “As the senior Republican on the Senate labor committee, I am committed to finding a better way by creating an environment in which we can grow the largest number of good new jobs by reducing costs and regulations on businesses, repealing the job-destroying health care law, and encouraging employers to expand their businesses in America, instead of punishing them with policies that satisfy big labor bosses and destroy jobs.”
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