Jobs Report Prompts Calls for Economic Stimulus

President-Elect Barack Obama and leading congressional Democrats stepped up calls for an economic stimulus package following today’s report that 533,000 jobs were slashed in November. “Our economy has already lost nearly 2 million jobs during this recession, which is why we need an Economic Recovery Plan that will save or create at least 2.5 million more jobs over two years while we act decisively to maintain the flows of credit on which so many American families and American businesses depend,” Obama said in a statement this morning. The economic crisis, he said, opens an opportunity for rebuilding roads and schools, developing clean-energy technologies “and making an early down payment on the long-term reforms that will grow and strengthen our economy for all Americans for years to come,” Obama said. Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, said the “jobs picture painted today is staggering, and it should be all the evidence Washington needs to act ... (link)