1977. you ve also got the highest high school graduation rates in history and downward trend when it comes to high school dropout rates. but then if you look at the unemployment rate what you say 33 of the top cities in america, the black unemployment rate exceeds 15% and in seven cities it is in excess of 20%. this means that the recovery has not reached all of the people in this nation and many are being left behind and it points to the work we need to do. following up on that point, let s break it down further, the index showed there were increase in social justice and health and decreases in education and civic engagement. you talked about unemployment. does it really come down to education, marc is that where folks are lagging and where resources need to be directed?
Years fighting back from the worst economic crisis if our lifetimes. the good news is, our economy s growing again. our business is creating jobs. we created nearly 9 million jobs over the past four years. we ve cut our deficits by more than half. our manufacturing sector that used to be losing jobs, just hemorrhaging jobs is now adding jobs for the first time since the 1990s. first time since the 1990s. high school dropout rates are going down. college attendance rates and graduation rates are going up. our troops are coming home. [ cheers and applause ] we re seeing an energy boom all across the country. and more than 7.5 million people have been able to sign up for health care, many for the very first time through the affordable care act.
Rights act and the fair housing act and immigration reform and medicare and medicaid and the first battles of the long war on poverty. over the past five years in the wake of the worst economic crisis of our life time, we ve won some victories, for a. nearly 9 million new jobs in america s businesses over the past four years. 7.5 million americans signing up to buy health care coverage under the affordable care act. and millions more who have gained coverage through medicaid and c.h.i.p. and young people being able to stay on their parents plans. the rate of uninsureded americans is down. high school dropout rates are down. our high school graduation rate is the highest on record. more young people are earning college degrees than ever before. we ve made progress and we ve
not necessarily, a lot of the people i live in a sanctuary city, this is a city where you have people who put people to work and they have been to the penitentiary three, four, five times. the major reason we do that, the city of chicago is the most corrupt city in america. this state has sent governors and senators and congressmen to jail. and this city, because of corporatism, whatever you want to call it, it is an extremely corrupt city. so you can t really use that about chicago. because there are so many ex-cons running around, and actually many of whom have held off, as you accurately point off. the president did say in his state-of-the-union address the other night that he was going to do some outreach to the black community. he talked about how he wanted to expand educational access for everybody. he says he wants to work to reduce high school dropout rates.
not necessarily, a lot of the people i live in a sanctuary city, this is a city where you have people who put people to work and they have been to the penitentiary three, four, five times. the major reason we do that, the city of chicago is the most corrupt city in america. this state has sent governors and senators and congressmen to jail. and this city, because of corporatism, whatever you want to call it, it is an extremely corrupt city. so you can t really use that about chicago. because there are so many ex-cons running around, and actually many of whom have held off, as you accurately point off. the president did say in his state-of-the-union address the other night that he was going to do some outreach to the black community. he talked about how he wanted to expand educational access for everybody. he says he wants to work to reduce high school dropout rates.