As we approach Labor Day, honoring America’s workforce, my assessment of new jobs created and declining unemployment differs from media reports. I find few new jobs in my industry (aerospace) – indeed a net loss of jobs – and that reported estimates of unemployed Washington state workers constitute “fuzzy math.” My supposedly “outsourced” job was cited as the reason for Boeing layoffs last fall, affecting close to 100 people in Technical Publications in the Commercial Airplane Division. Just four months after being laid off, I learned that those jobs weren’t outsourced after all. Boeing’s scheme to move the work to Chile never materialized. As of this writing, and to my knowledge, Boeing has not called any of us back to work, yet the Boeing vice president who made this inept decision remains employed there.
Why?
When I hear statistics about a decline in new claims for unemployment insurance, I cringe. Many displaced workers have exhausted their benefits and cannot qualify for a new claim. The overall number of unemployed workers is, therefore, difficult to quantify; those who boldly cite figures and percentages either have a crystal ball or are practicing “fuzzy math.”
This is the most important presidential election of my adult life. Jobs and the economy are key issues – and that’s why I’m voting for Kerry/Edwards. John Kerry has a plan to keep American jobs on American soil. He proposes ending tax breaks for companies to move jobs overseas, and he will cut taxes for 99 percent of corporations that keep jobs in America. The Kerry/Edwards plan would end a special break that allows companies to defer paying taxes on income earned abroad and would use the savings to cut the corporate tax rate by 5 percent. Sounds like a winning strategy to me. Vote jobs. Vote Kerry/Edwards!
Judy Mardorf
Snohomish
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