WASHINGTON, Sept 3 (AFP) - Democratic presidential hopeful John Kerry on Friday slammed George W. Bush as the first US president since 1932 to end his term with a jobs deficit.
"President Bush is now certain to be the first president since the Great Depression to face re-election without creating a single job," Kerry said in a statement, following the announcement that some 144,000 jobs were created in August, up from 73,000 in July.
"If you believe lost jobs mean that America is heading in the right direction, you should support George Bush and his policies of failure," Kerry said.
"But if you believe America needs to move in a new direction, join with us. I will set a new course with an economic plan that will create jobs and put middle-class families first," he declared.
According to the Kerry camp, the Bush administration has witnessed some 1.6 million private-sector jobs disappear since taking office in January 2001. They added that every other president since Herbert Hoover, beginning with Franklin Roosevelt, saw jobs grow as their first term wound to a close.
The US Labor Department reported Friday that the unemployment rate fell by a tenth of a percentage point to 5.4 percent, the lowest rate since October 2001 and that 144,000 jobs were created in August.