[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 7 (Wednesday, January 28, 2004)]
[House]
[Page H130]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               JOB GROWTH

  (Mr. DREIER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, to counter my friend, not in the area of 
football but on the issue of jobs, we all know that the economy is 
growing; but we continue to hear this argument that we are slow in the 
area of job growth.
  We have seen the report yesterday of a dramatic increase in consumer 
confidence, the highest levels since mid-2002. Obviously, productivity 
is at unprecedented levels. Investment is higher. Fifty percent of the 
American people are members of the investment class. And the market is 
over 10,600.
  So the interesting thing for us to note is that as we look at this 
job creation issue, it is important for us to observe that what we have 
regularly found is that the Department of Labor's payroll survey is the 
one that has been reporting not tremendous job growth. We must look at 
the household survey, which has shown that there have been 1.9 million 
new jobs created during this administration since November of 2001. It 
is important that while this rhetoric of jobless recovery is constantly 
put out there, the household survey takes into consideration something 
that the payroll survey does not, and that is the self-employed, those 
who are creating jobs in the private sector on their own. So it is 
important for us to responsibly look at these numbers, Mr. Speaker.

                          ____________________