February 10, 2006, 8:37 a.m.
The Bush Boom Is Color Blind
The black unemployment rate keeps on falling.

By Jerry Bowyer

The funeral of Coretta Scott King has reopened the monologue in America about how bad President George W. Bush has been for black people. Billions for war ... nothing for the poor … tax cuts for the rich, etc., etc., etc. But this month’s jobs report deals the George-Bush-hates-black-people crowd another stern rebuke.

Since Bush’s tax cuts arrived in May 2003, the economy has created 4.7 million payroll jobs and the unemployment rate has dropped from 6.1 percent to 4.7 percent. Even more striking than the booming job market, however, is the rapid improvement in black employment. Last August, BuzzCharts pointed out that black unemployment was historically low. Since then, it has fallen even further. In fact, it has dropped from 10.6 percent in November to 9.3 percent in December to 8.9 percent in January. You have to go all the way back to July 2001 to find lower levels of black unemployment.

This drop also undercuts the stereotype that the Democratic party is somehow the party that looks out for minorities: Today’s level of black unemployment is lower than the 9.5 percent average realized between 1995 and 2000, supposedly the height of Clinton’s “economic miracle.”

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Bush’s policies are good for jobs — jobs for all Americans of any color.

— Jerry Bowyer is the author of The Bush Boom and an economic advisor to Independence Portfolio Partners. He can be reached through www.BowyerMedia.com.

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