How To Create Jobs: The People Weigh In

With the primary election just days ahead, campaign rhetoric is heating up locally and nationally.

The fallout of Friday’s disappointing jobs report – just 69,000 new U.S. jobs added in May – will certainly fuel discussion through Tuesday’s primary. As has been the case all year, campaign chatter always comes back to jobs, jobs, jobs – in that order.

“Today the national unemployment rate went up to 8.2 percent,” Dr. Eva Johnson wrote in an open letter to the media on Friday. Johnson, a Wildomar resident who is running for the 42nd Congressional District, called the rate “unacceptable.”

“The government must give the private-sector markets the assurance that job creation is a top priority,” Johnson wrote in her letter. “The federal government does not create jobs. However, in a consulting role, the federal government can be a great advocate.”

Melissa Melendez, who currently serves on the Lake Elsinore City Council and is running for the 67th State Assembly District seat, has campaign signs posted around town that promise she will make jobs her priority if elected.

Bob Buster, who is running for re-election in the 1st supervisor’s district, states on his website he “will continue to be a strong leader and an independent voice on the Board of Supervisors as your advocate for job creation …”

But how does a politician really affect job creation? Can those picked to serve truly deliver on jobs’ promises?

What are your thoughts? How can elected officials create jobs? What do you want to see elected officials do to create jobs locally?