Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA), Chairman of the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee (JEC), released the following statement on the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ April jobs report showing that the unemployment rate edged up to 9.0 percent and 244,000 total nonfarm jobs were added:

“April was another solid month of job creation.  In the past three months, we’ve averaged more than 250,000 new private sector jobs each month.   The recent job creation is a sign that policies put into place during the last Congress to spur hiring and strengthen small businesses are gaining traction. 

“It was encouraging to see that the economy added jobs across nearly all sectors of the economy.    Manufacturing, which is especially important to the nation’s competitive position, gained 29,000 jobs this month, and professional and business services has now added jobs for nine months in a row.  The breadth of the job gains shows that the recovery is strengthening but clearly there is more to be done.

“Additional progress reducing unemployment is critical to the 13.7 million Americans who are looking for work, but can’t find it, and who are struggling to make ends meet.   With so many people unemployed, the economy is still operating below capacity and is not benefitting from the skills and labor of those who are currently jobless.   Congress needs to continue to support the private sector in creating jobs and driving new innovations that will boost future economic growth.”