[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1994, Book I)]
[March 5, 1994]
[Pages 382-384]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



The President's Radio Address
March 5, 1994

    Good morning. Today I want to talk to you about what we're doing to 
put America back to work and to have more good-paying jobs.
    When you sent me to Washington, you entrusted me with the 
responsibility of turning our Nation's economy around and improving the 
lives of hardworking, middle class Americans, the people who were hit 
hardest during the recession and the jobless recovery that followed. So 
this administration took action, took responsibility. And in the last 13 
months, we've worked to change the economic course of our country from 
recession-weary to healthy and growing. And that began to change the 
mood of our people, making us more confident again in ourselves and our 
possibilities.
    We had to break gridlock in Congress to get discipline into the 
budget and to begin bringing

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down our Nation's deficit. We created a healthier climate for business, 
leading to more investment and more jobs coming into the economy. We 
began to level the playing field in global trade, opening up 
opportunities to sell American products and services around the world. 
And at the same time, we began to expand access to education and 
training at home so that more of our people can compete and win in the 
world economy.
    When I took office as your President, I said our goal was to create 
8 million jobs in 4 years. Critics said it couldn't be done. But it can 
if we have the right economic strategy and if we stick with it.
    The Department of Labor has just confirmed that in the first 13 
months of our administration, the economy has created an additional 
2,090,000 jobs, more than 90 percent of them in the private sector, so 
we're well on our way. In just 13 months, the economy has generated 
nearly twice as many private sector jobs than the total for the entire 
previous 4 years.
    Of course it's heartening that more people are collecting paychecks 
and many Americans are personally feeling the economic turn for the 
better, maybe with a first home or a new car financed at lower interest 
rates. But still there are too many Americans hurting, without jobs, or 
people settling for part-time work, many too discouraged to even look 
for work, and millions and millions of Americans working harder every 
year for the same or lower wages. I say to those Americans, don't give 
up. I promise all of you, when it comes to lifting our economy and 
creating opportunity, we won't let up, not for an instant. When it comes 
to jobs, we want to create 2 million more in '94. We'll keep building on 
the firm foundations already set in place.
    Last year Congress passed the first phase of our economic plan. It's 
already had a major impact on the deficit. The 1995 deficit projection 
has gone down $120 billion, that's 40 percent lower than it was 
estimated to be when I took office. The next installment of the plan is 
now before the Congress. It cuts spending in more than 350 nondefense 
programs, eliminates 100 of them outright. We are keeping faith with our 
goal to reduce the deficit by $500 billion in 5 years. This is the first 
serious effort by any recent administration to attack this deficit. And 
it set the stage for much of the economic progress that's been made.
    Because of this progress, because of the lower interest rates, we're 
in a better position to compete in the world. It's a fact, once again, 
from agricultural products to technology and services, America is making 
the products the world wants to buy. Our challenge is gaining access to 
the markets of our competitors, and we're taking that challenge head-on, 
too. We've torn down trade barriers with NAFTA, the North American Free 
Trade Agreement, with the worldwide General Agreement on Tariffs and 
Trade to negotiate open markets everywhere and at our conference with 
the Asian and Pacific nations where so much of the world's growth is 
occurring.
    In one year, we've done more to open markets than any other recent 
administration, but where unfair barriers to our exports remain, we 
still have work to do. So this week, I signed an Executive order 
reviving a process to open markets called Super 301. It will help us to 
set priorities for opening markets around the world by identifying those 
practices, wherever they occur, that erect unfair barriers to American 
products and to the products of other countries as well. It will help us 
tailor our responses to these barriers to trade. And this is the payoff: 
20,000 jobs for every $1 billion we sell in American exports, jobs that 
pay, on average, 22 percent more than other American wages. And because 
these jobs require the most up-to-date skills, we're moving to make our 
workers the best trained in the world. Next week, with the support of 
business and labor, we will introduce the ``Reemployment Act of 1994'' 
to bring our training programs into the 21st century, replacing the 
existing unemployment system with a reemployment system, recognizing 
that most Americans don't get called back to the same jobs they lose, 
and the average American will change work seven times in a lifetime.
    Then later this month, I'll be in Detroit to meet with the ministers 
of the G-7 nations. The subject will be jobs: How can the wealthy 
countries create more jobs and make sure our people are trained properly 
for them?
    Let me be clear: Of all the many important responsibilities of this 
office, putting America to work takes priority. Welfare reform is an 
important part of this picture, too. And reforming health care goes hand 
in hand, assuring our people that they need not fear they'll lose their 
medical coverage when they move from welfare to work or from their old 
jobs to new ones.

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    Make no mistake, more than 2 million jobs were created last year 
because we took responsibility and began to get our economic house in 
order. Now we have to keep our commitments to reduce the deficit, grow 
the economy, and create jobs. We can do that by passing this tough new 
budget, adopting our programs for skills, new jobs, and new 
opportunities. Thanks for listening.

Note: The President spoke at 10:06 a.m. from the Oval Office at the 
White House.