we've gone from losing 9 million jobs during the financial crisis to creating 10 million jobs. we've reduced the unemployment rate from 10% in october of to 6.1% today. and for the first time since the 1990s, american manufacturing is steadily5 adding jobs-over 700,000 since . and surveys of both american and foreign business leaders confirm that america once again is viewed as the best place in the world to build and invest.
that's all good news.
but an awful lot of middle class americans are still not feeling the effects of this recovery. since the year , gross domestic product-our gdp - has risen by 25%. and productivity in america is up by 30%. but middle class wages during that same time period have gone up by only fourteen cents.
folks, it's long past time to cut the middle class back into the deal, so they can benefit from the economic growth they helped create. folks, there used to be a bargain in this country supported by democrats6 and republicans, business and labor7. the bargain was simple. if an employee contributed to the growth and profitability of the company, they got to share in the profits and the benefits as well. that's what built the middle class. it's time to restore the bargain, to deal the middle class back in. because, folks, when the middle class does well, everybody does well-the wealthy get wealthier and the poor have a way up.
you know, the middle class is not a number. it's a value set. it means being able to own your home; raise your children in a safe neighborhood; send them to a good school where if they do well they can qualify to go to college and if they get accepted you'd be able to find a way to be able to send them to college. and in the meantime, if your parents need help, being able to take care of them, and hope to put aside enough money so that your children will not have to take care of you.
that's the american dream. that's what this country was built on. and that's what we'redetermined8 to restore.
in order to do that, it's time to have a fair tax structure, one that values paychecks as much as unearned income and inherited wealth, to take some of the burden off of the middle class. it's time to close tax loopholes so we can reduce the deficit9, and invest in rebuilding america - our bridges, our ports, our highways, rails, providing good jobs.
with corporate10 profits at near record highs, we should encourage corporations to invest more in research and development and the salaries of their employees. it's time for us to invest in educational opportunity to guarantee that we have the most highly skilledworkforce11 in the world, for 6 out of every 10 jobs in the near term is going to require some education beyond high school. folks, it's long past due to increase the minimum wage that will lift millions of hardworking families out of poverty target poverty and in the process produce a ripple12 effect that boosts wages for the middle class and spurs economic growth for the united states of america. economists13 acknowledge that if we do these and other things, wages will go up and we'll increase the gross domestic product of the united states.
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