Jeb On ‘Work Longer Hours’ Comment: I Meant People Need To Work Full Time

Republican presidential candidate former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush speaks at a town hall meeting Wednesday, July 8, 2015, in Hudson, N.H. (AP Photo/Jim Cole)
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After Jeb Bush’s remark Wednesday that “people need to work longer hours” as part of his plan to grow the economy, the former Florida governor clarified that he meant more Americans need access to full-time employment, rather than relying on part-time jobs.

“You can take it out of context all you want, but high-sustained growth means that people work 40 hours rather than 30 hours and that by our success, they have money, disposable income for their families to decide how they want to spend it rather than getting in line and being dependent on government,” Bush said in a Veterans of Foreign Wars town hall in New Hampshire.

Bush said because factors like rising healthcare costs have made it harder for small businesses to create jobs, giving employees the chance to work more hours “has got to be part of the answer.”

Critics seized on Bush’s remark from a meeting with the New Hampshire “Union-Leader” editorial board, chalking it up as another gaffe proving Bush is out of touch with average Americans.

Half of full-time American workers reported working more than 40 hours a week, on average, in 2014, and employees in the United States work longer hours and take fewer vacations than workers in any other industrialized country.

But there is also a growing crisis of full-time employment remaining just out of reach for many Americans, with about 75 percent of part-time workers either living in poverty or classifying as low income earners. There’s also been a well-documented increase in the number of involuntary part-time workers – those who have seen their hours cut but would prefer to work more than 34 hours a week – with levels remaining high even post-recession.

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Notable Replies

  1. “It didn’t work?..Okay, what I MEANT to say was…”

    Bitch about the Liberal Media too while you’re at it.

  2. Sorry, Jeb. You just had your 47% moment.

  3. Jebbers: I meant people need to work full time…
    You know, 18 hours each day, 7 days each week–full time. What?

  4. “You can take it out of context all you want, but high-sustained growth means that people work 40 hours rather than 30 hours and that by our success, they have money, disposable income for their families to decide how they want to spend it rather than getting in line and being dependent on government,” Bush said in a Veterans of Foreign Wars town hall in New Hampshire.

    People like Jeb and Mitt Romney make me want to puke. Both of them had their comfy lives paved for them from the very start. They hardly had to exert themselves to achieve success in life. But they are happy to lecture others about how they should put their nose to the grindstone. And if you want people who are dependent upon government, look no further than career politicians.
    F you.

  5. Telling someone who’s working two part-time jobs to make ends meet that they need to work longer hours isn’t any better. Even on his own terms it still shows how out of touch he is.

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