House Committee on Education and Labor
U.S. House of Representatives

Information from the Department of Labor today shows the November unemployment rate increased sharply by two-tenths of a point, bringing unemployment to a 14 year high of 6.7 percent.  The New York Times reports that 533,000 nonfarm jobs were eliminated last month, "the most in one month since the mid-1970s."

What makes this scenerio even more disturbing is that Democrats seemingly have special-interest blinders on, ignoring the distressing unemployment rates and are instead gearing up to push the deceptively-named "Employee Free Choice Act" through Congress as one of the first orders of business.  This "card check" legislation does nothing to spur economic growth or create new jobs for the unemployed.  Rather, passing "card check" legislation would be to indulge Big Labor and special interest groups and eliminate workers’ right to a private ballot unionizing election, instead requiring workers to publicly declare whether they support a particular union by signing a card.

With an additional 500,000 Americans losing their jobs last month alone, Congress must focus on the issues at hand.  That's why Republicans have submitted an economic rapid recovery plan that reduces the tax burden on citizens in an effort to stimulate consumer spending.

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As the House prepares to vote this week on the so-called Paycheck Fairness Act, it's worth taking a moment to set the record straight on exactly what the bill would do.  While its supporters argue that it is needed to prevent women from being underpaid, the reality is that "equal pay for equal work" is already the law of the land.  And it has been, for 45 years.

The Paycheck Fairness Act doesn't create protections against wage discrimination; it just makes it easier and more lucrative for trial lawyers to bring pay discrimination claims to court.  National Review Online published a piece this morning from Carrie Lukas, vice president of Independent Women’s Voice.  Her piece offers an interesting analysis that explores the flawed logic behind the bill and the potential unintended consequences it could bring.  She closes with this:

Federal law already outlaws sex discrimination. This legislation would afford women few new protections against actual sex discrimination, but would raise the cost of employment and discourage workplace flexibility. It is exactly what women — and the economy — don’t need. If this is what we can expect from the rest of this Congress, Americans should hope for an early recess.

For the full article, click here.

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Amid much fanfare, congressional Democrats last year drafted and hastily approved an increase in the federal minimum wage.  At the time, Republicans struck a more cautious tone, expressing a concern that without proper care, the wage increase could have serious and harmful unintended consequences.  For instance, Republicans offered an alternative proposal that coupled the minimum wage increase with proposals to expand access to affordable health care and protect small businesses and their workers.

Nearly a year after the first phase of the wage increase kicked in, economists have begun to notice at least one potential unintended consequence -- teen employment is down.  Way down.

According to economist David Neumark of the University of California at Irvine, for every 10 percent increase in the minimum wage, employment for high school dropouts and young black adults and teenagers falls by 8.5 percent. In the past 11 months alone, the United States’ minimum wage has increased by more than twice that amount.

And there's this.

It is at least possible that in addition to the more general problems in the US economy, last summer's increase in the federal minimum wage as well as the next jump coming in late July are behind the particulars here.  Last July, the federal minimum wage increased to $5.85/hr and it will go up to $6.55 on July 24 of this year.   With a sluggish economy, it certainly seems possible that the higher minimum wage is discouraging employers from hiring lower-skill workers whose productivity cannot justify paying them that wage, particularly if they know they will have to give them a raise come late July.

With unemployment jumping a staggering 0.5 percent last month alone, many are beginning to wonder whether the Democrats' economic proposals are doing more harm than good for the low-income workers who are struggling the most.

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This morning, the Department of Labor reported that the U.S. economy shed 80,000 jobs in the month of March, while the unemployment rate ticked up to 5.1 percent (from 4.8 percent last month).  It's clear that the economy is slowing and American families and small businesses are feeling the pinch.  Although an important step was taken with the economic stimulus package passed earlier this year, Republicans believe Congress must remain vigilant in fostering pro-growth policies that will spur job creation.  This means rejecting burdensome red tape and bureaucratic regulations that stifle economic innovation, maintaining fiscal responsibility in Washington, and avoiding tax increases on families and small businesses.  In a time of economic uncertainty, the last thing the country needs is the threat of the largest tax hike in American history.  Yet that's exactly what the Democrats have proposed with their FY 2009 budget.  Today's jobs report should serve as a stark reminder that America's economy needs pro-growth policies, not more of the Democrats' tired tax-and-spend agenda.

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