John J. Sweeney

If you're an unemployed software engineer, machinist or retail worker, you already know what today's jobs numbers confirm: More than three years after the recession ended, we are still not adding enough jobs to stay even, much less climb out of the hole dug over the last four years.

For the third month in a row, job growth fell below even the very modest expectations of economists and administration spokespersons. Three months of missing the mark is no cause for celebration. We are still down almost one million jobs since the start of the Bush administration, more than 14 million workers remain unemployed or underemployed, and 150,000 more people dropped out of the job market last month. Unemployment has gotten tougher, as the average duration of joblessness rose to 19 weeks and an unacceptably high 1.7 million people have been unemployed for longer than six months. This is not a record of success. Clearly, we have not turned the economic corner.

President Bush promised 5 million new jobs during his term — and he's 6 million jobs behind on that promise. But the problem isn't just lackluster numbers. Most workers are equally concerned that we've entered an era of declining job quality-and the question is whether the trend is here to stay or if we can turn it around. America and America's families will not prosper if our job market is dominated by low-wage Walmart-type jobs that don't provide benefits and can't support families. The prolonged jobs crisis has diminished the hopes of skilled workers, even those with multiple degrees, who have watched the decline of quality jobs because of economic policies that benefit corporations over workers.

Adding insult to injury, many workers with jobs mark this Labor Day with the possibility they will lose the right to overtime pay because of George Bush's new overtime pay cut that affects up to six million workers — chefs, nurses, team leaders and working supervisors.

America's working families need leaders who put them first, not last, by pursuing economic policies designed to create good jobs that support families. They must invest in our nation's infrastructure, reform tax and trade policies, stop rewarding companies that ship U.S. jobs overseas, enforce labor laws, rein in health care costs and give workers the freedom to form unions. Anything less is a slap in the face to working Americans.