Sen. Charles E. Schumer, Chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, released the following statement in reaction to the weak June jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS):

“The economy continues to stagger and Washington continues its paralysis.  When will the administration realize the economic pain many Americans are suffering; and when will they understand that focused government activities like a housing relief bill and a second stimulus package could help alleviate that pain?”

Some key points in the BLS report:

• 62,000 jobs were lost in June, which marks the sixth straight month of jobs losses totaling nearly 440,000 lost jobs in 2008. 

• Job losses have continued to spread to other sectors of the economy - professional, construction and manufacturing sectors lost 51,000, 43,000, and 33,000 jobs respectively.

• The unemployment rate remained at 5.5 percent, statistically unchanged since last month.