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’ October jobs report showing that the unemployment rate decreased slightly to 9.0 percent and 80,000 total nonfarm jobs were added:

 “While the economy has now added private-sector jobs for 20 straight months, we need much greater job gains in order to bring down our stubbornly high unemployment rate. 

“Congress must refocus on helping put people back to work.  My Small Business Job Creation Tax Credit Act would boost employment by creating a one-year, quarterly payroll tax credit that provides businesses incentives to hire, increase worker hours or increase pay. 

 “Rebuilding our nation’s infrastructure would create jobs and strengthen U.S. competitiveness. Our country’s transportation system is in dire need of improvements.  Rebuilding our infrastructure would create good-paying construction jobs and provide much-needed repairs to our roads and bridges. Two different approaches to strengthening infrastructure were defeated in the Senate this week.  I hope that the Senate can find a bipartisan path forward to create jobs.”    

###