There has been a recent drop, though, which some Democrats claim as proof that their stimulus plan finally worked. But if that’s true, then where are the jobs?

As more and more people have learned recently, the official unemployment rate doesn’t actually count unemployed people who have given up looking for work. The above chart offers another look at the jobs data. It shows the “labor force participation rate,” which represents the share of working-age Americans who are either employed or unemployed but looking for work.

As you can see, only 63.7% of working-age Americans are currently in the workforce. The rate hasn’t been that low in almost 29 years! To put it another way, 36.3% of working-age Americans do not have a job and are not even looking.

Liberals think they can fabricate jobs by growing the government. What we need is to create jobs by growing the economy. That’s why conservatives in the Republican Study Committee are getting behind H.R. 3400, the Jobs Through Growth Act.

It ramps up energy production. It fights back against regulation-gone-wild. And it allows you to throw out the old tax code for one that’s simpler, flatter, and fairer.

The past three years have made clear what doesn’t work. Let’s go with what does.

The stimulus didn’t work, and the federal government’s alphabet soup is only making things worse.

• The EPA has its “War on Jobs.”
• The NLRB is suing Boeing for creating new jobs in South Carolina.
• HHS has no “rhyme or reason” for who gets an ObamaCare waiver.

As one business executive recently told a top Obama aide, Washington “throws sand into the gears of progress.” The private sector, the people who actually create jobs, are stuck playing defense.  No wonder we’re in the slowest jobs recovery since the Great Depression.

We have to get Washington out of the way and get true job creators back on offense.

The solutions are pretty simple: cut away red tape, grow American energy production, cut spending and debt, streamline the tax code, and open global markets to American goods and services. If we can do all that, the next Recovery Summer might actually be for real.

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) serves as Chairman of the Republican Study Committee. Follow the RSC on Facebook and Twitter.

The big-government approach is supported by President-Elect Obama, who recently said that “government” is the only one that can fix this economy.

We in the Republican Study Committee strongly disagree.

We don’t believe in tax-and-stimulate. We believe in cutting taxes to put more money back in the hands of the families and job creators that make our economy work.

We have an alternative stimulus plan that is more fiscally responsible, with tax cuts and spending cuts to promote real economic growth.

• We’re proposing a permanent 5% cut in personal income tax rates.
• We’re cutting taxes on businesses from 35% to 25% so they are better seated to invest and create jobs.
• We want to alleviate debt for future generations – by avoiding a trillion dollar spending spree
• Our bill will contain NO pork and NO earmarks

I encourage you to look at the Economic Recovery and Middle-Class Tax Relief Act here. Let us know how we can better serve you and your family.

Rep. Jordan is the Chairman of the Republican Study Committee’s Budget & Spending Task Force and is in his second term as Ohio’s Fourth District Representative.