Job Creation (June 2010)

The economic challenges facing our nation present us with great opportunity to rethink and retool how we build the economy and workforce of the 21st century.

More than a year after the $787 billion “stimulus” was signed into law, and — despite promises by leaders in Washington that unemployment would remain below eight percent and that 3 million to 4 million jobs would be created — unemployment still stands near 10 percent and more than 2.5 million jobs have been lost.

Despite what you might hear on cable news, both the Democratic and Republican parties are in broad agreement that the private sector has always been, and always will be, the engine of innovation and job creation in America.  

A day before the president’s visit to Ohio a week and a half ago, a headline in my local newspaper, the Columbus Dispatch, caught my eye: “Obama launches push to sell Americans on stimulus merits.”

On January 18th, two days after taking the oath of office, I delivered my first address to the Joint Houses of the Virginia General Assembly.

At ADI Wind in Sheffield, Ohio, workers showed me a revolutionary titanium gear box designed for wind turbines.

There is no question that jobs and job creation are on the minds of all Americans as they work hard to make ends meet in the midst of this economic downturn.