[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 29, Number 5 (Monday, February 8, 1993)]
[Pages 137-138]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Exchange With Reporters During a Luncheon With the Vice President

 February 4, 1993

The Economy and Job Creation

    Q. Mr. President, with productivity soaring and factory orders up, 
does this mean it's a strong recovery and you might have to adjust your 
economic plan?
    The President. Well, we haven't--it could mean that more evidence 
will come in the deficit will be smaller. But there's no--it could mean 
that we'll have more jobs, which is the real issue. But we don't see it 
yet.
    I think the real issue--what appears to be the case is that American 
productivity is up and that a lot of Americans are refinancing

[[Page 138]]

their homes or buying new homes because of low interest rates. But so 
far, we're not adding jobs to the economy. That's the critical thing.

    I think it means we need to take a real close look at the credit 
crunch for small business. I think it means we need to redouble our 
efforts on health care cost restraints because that's one of the things 
that's preventing small business from hiring more people. But if you 
look at the downsizing going on in a lot of these big companies, we 
still need a program which will help us to generate jobs and higher 
income jobs. And that's the focus that I had for several months now.

    I'm happy that the productivity rates picked up, and I'm glad that 
people are able to finance their homes at lower interest rates. But I'm 
still not convinced that this country is yet set on the right course in 
terms of generating the jobs. And that's the key thing: jobs.

    Q. What if the markets, which seem encouraged by your commitment to 
deficit reduction, go down if you don't live up to your promise of 
145,000 jobs?

    The President. I think they want us to have a steady, disciplined, 
downward path on the deficit. But I also would point out that sometimes 
when the markets have been up, the job market has been down. The market 
that counts is the market that affects ordinary Americans. Do they have 
jobs? Are their incomes going up? And that's why I think we have to 
increase investment for jobs and decrease the debt. And we're going to 
do our best to do both. On February 17th I'm going to----

Note: The exchange began at 12:30 p.m. in the Oval Office at the White 
House. A tape was not available for verification of the content of this 
exchange.