Obama Says Jobs Data Shows Continued Need for Government Action

President Barack Obama told a group of Ohio police recruits who faced layoffs until his economic stimulus plan kicked in that today’s report on job losses demonstrates that government must continue to take “bold” action on the economy.

“This country has never responded to a crisis by sitting on the sidelines and hoping for the best,” Obama, who is campaigning to maintain support for his economic agenda, said in Columbus, Ohio. “We have a responsibility to act, and that’s what I intend to do.”

The president addressed the police academy graduates on the same day the Labor Department reported the nation’s unemployment rate hit 8.1 percent in February, the highest in more than 25 years, as employers eliminated 651,000 jobs. The figures indicated the economy is in worse shape than previously estimated.

“The jobless rate, a lagging indicator, will keep marching upward throughout the year and well into 2010,” said Sung Won- Sohn, a former chief economist at Wells Fargo & Co. and now a professor of economics and finance at California State University Channel Islands in Camarillo, California. “ The massive hemorrhage of jobs is reminiscent of the 1982 recession when the jobless rate hit 10.8 percent.”

Local Jobs

The Obama administration says the stimulus plan would save or create at least 3.5 million jobs over two years, including about 133,000 in Ohio. Twenty-five of those were in the city’s police department.

Congress passed the $787 billion package of tax cuts and new government spending last month and Obama cited the Columbus police recruits when he signed the legislation. They had been told they would lose their jobs because the city could no longer afford their positions. The legislation included $1.25 million that will cover the officers’ salaries this year.

“There is no longer any doubt you will be employed as officers of the law when you leave here today,” Obama said.

Ohio is getting more than $61 million for law enforcement and criminal justice systems, according to the administration.