WASHINGTON, June 6 (UPI) -- A poor jobs report shows U.S. working families "bear the brunt of the failed Bush economic policies," presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama said Friday.
The U.S. Labor Department reported 49,000 jobs lost in May, and the unemployment rate rose to 5.5 percent.
Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the presumptive Republican nominee, said Friday's unemployment report "is a stark reminder of the economic challenges facing American families."
Obama, the U.S. senator from Illinois, said the report "is a reminder that working families continue to bear the brunt of the failed Bush economic policies that John McCain wants to continue for another four years."
He said the U.S. economy has lost 324,000 jobs in the first five months of 2008. Wages "failed to keep pace with skyrocketing cost of healthcare and college tuition and gas," he said.
Helping U.S. families, McCain said, means "getting our economy back on track by providing immediate tax relief, enacting a ... plan to help those facing foreclosure, lowering healthcare costs, investing in innovation, moving toward energy independence and opening foreign markets to our goods."
