Washington,
D.C. - Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney, Chair of the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee
(JEC), released the following statement on the Bureau of Labor Statistics'
October jobs report showing that the unemployment rate was unchanged at 9.6 percent
and 151,000 total nonfarm jobs were added:
“With Tuesday’s elections, the numbers in Congress have changed, but the top priority for Congress should not. We must remain focused on creating jobs, so that the 14.8 million Americans who remain out of work, can find work.
“As this latest jobs report shows, we are making steady progress, and our economy is in better shape than a year ago. The policies put in place during the past two years have strengthened our economy and laid the foundation for future growth. We now have ten straight months of private sector job gains, and for the first time since May, the economy saw an increase in total nonfarm jobs. This October, we added 159,000 private sector jobs, compared to losing 262,000 private sector jobs last October.
“But, we still have work to do. Two days ago, the Federal Reserve announced its much-anticipated action to strengthen the economy. Congress, too, must keep its focus on policies that will boost employment, prepare workers for new jobs and help to bring down the unemployment rate.
“In the coming days and weeks, there should and will be attention focused on actions required to bring down the deficit. But we must not let consideration of deficit issues crowd out job-creating policies and investments that are still needed. In the upcoming lame-duck session, I look forward to Republicans offering their ideas and proposals on how to create jobs and boost growth. The Democrats have done the heavy lifting so far, it’s time for the Republicans to move beyond “no” and join us in the solutions business.”
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The Joint Economic Committee,
established under the Employment Act of 1946, was created by Congress to review
economic conditions and to analyze the effectiveness of economic policy.
www.jec.senate.gov
