By Matt Sepic, KWMU
St. Louis – The Labor Department said today the U.S. unemployment rate held steady last month at 5.6 percent.
Across the economy, American businesses added about 248,000 new jobs in May.
In St. Louis today, Hector Barreto head of the Small Business Administration--said the President's tax cuts are largely responsible.
"As I've gone around the country talking to small businesses, they've told me, I know exactly when my business started turning around. It was last July after that law passed,'" Barreto said.
Barreto appeared today with Missouri Republican Congressman Todd Aiken at a North St. Louis County machine shop.
Democratic presidential challenger John Kerry says the country lost jobs under President Bush, and has pledged to roll back tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.