THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Vice President

                   STATEMENT OF VICE PRESIDENT GORE
                            ON JOBS REPORT

The Clinton-Gore Administration received new evidence today that America's economy remains strong.

Last month, the economy created 365,000 jobs, the unemployment rate remained at 4.5 percent, as low as it has been in 28 years, and real wages continued to rise -- all with no signs of inflation. Since President Clinton and I took office, the economy has now created 16.7 million new jobs. For nearly a quarter century, our nation had not seen an unemployment rate dip below five percent; it has now stayed below five percent for 14 months in a row. Let there be no doubt: if we stay on the right economic path, America's job engine can roar into the 21st Century.

I want to make one further point. The volatility we saw in our financial markets this week -- and the difficulties being faced in some foreign economies -- show how the world's markets are interconnected, and how events in far away places can affect us in America. Today's employment numbers show that the fundamentals of the U.S. economy remain strong, even in a tumultuous world. But for that strength to continue, we must make sure our economic policies remain headed in the right direction. We need Congress to support paying our fair share of IMF funding, so the U.S. can continue its global economic leadership -- leadership that is good for the world, and good for our own future.

And Congress must stick to the economic course President Clinton has charted for this nation -- fiscal discipline, which means saving the surplus until we fix Social Security; targeted investments; and open markets around the world -- so that our economy will stay dynamic and strong. Now is not the time to withdraw our global economic leadership -- or to veer off the course of strict fiscal discipline and targeted investments here at home.

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