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President Obama has made the rare request of addressing a joint session of Congress to unveil his plan for job creation next week. Generally the President makes such addresses for the annual State of the Union speech. But with continued high levels of unemployment in the face of corporate enrichment, there is growing public pressure to create jobs. While details of his plan are yet to be revealed, in an interview earlier this week Obama hinted that it would involve a public works type component. But the New York Times yesterday reported on an independent study on job creation month-by-month, which revealed that while job creation in the private sector slowed in August, the number of job cuts was highest among government employers. Because of rightwing pressure to reduce the government’s deficit, it is likely that government job cuts will continue. Among those pushing for economic growth with little concern for jobs is the US Chamber of Commerce. The watchdog group, US Chamber Watch is calling attention to the fact that the Chamber of Commerce offers corporate tax breaks and the annihilation of the social safety net as their only economic prescriptions. Worse, they have supported the passage of free trade bills, and even openly encouraged outsourcing American jobs. Realizing that there are no real solutions coming from Washington or the private sector, city governments, and grassroots organizations are pushing for local solutions. A new report by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research finds that San Francisco has weathered the Great Recession better than its surrounding counties after mandating paid sick leave in 2007 – San Francisco has actually created significantly more jobs, and lost fewer jobs than its neighbors. Now Denver, Colorado is considering a similar mandatory sick leave bill on its November ballot. Here in Los Angeles, hundreds of people attended a so-called Kitchen Table summit this week to pressure California Congressman Xavier Becerra, one of the 12 members of Congress appointed to the Super-Committee created by the recently passed deficit-reduction/debt-ceiling bill. They want Becerra and his fellow lawmakers to focus on job creation rather than giving corporations and the wealthy more tax breaks. The US Labor Department’s statistics reveal that 1 in 4 LA County workers are unemployed or underemployed.

GUESTS: Kevin Miller, Senior Research Associate with Institute for Women’s Policy Research, Mike Garcia, President of SEIU-USWW, who moderated this week’s Kitchen Table Summit organized by Good Jobs LA, and Christy Setzer, Spokesperson and Senior adviser of US Chamber Watch

Find out more at www.iwpr.org, www.goodjobsla.org, and www.fixtheuschamber.org.