Obama: We Have Not Seen a Stretch of Job Growth Like this Since Jimmy Carter

BARACK OBAMA: "The good news is we are in much better shape now than we were six years ago. This morning, we learned that our economy created nearly 300,000 new jobs last month. The unemployment rate went down. Unemployment kicked down to 5.5 percent which is the lowest it has been since spring of 2008. [applause] Our businesses have now added more than 200,000 jobs each month for the past year, and we have not seen as a stretch like that in 37 years. Since jimmy carter was president. [applause] all told, over the past five years, businesses have created nearly 12 million new jobs. What’s more, the unemployment rate for African-Americans is actually falling more than the overall rate. Which makes sense because it went up higher in the recession. But it is still too high. The unemployment rate across the country and here in South Carolina is still higher than we want, so we still have more work to do. But we've got to make sure those are good jobs that pay a living wage and have good benefits. So we can't let up now."