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’ July jobs report showing that the unemployment rate was essentially unchanged at 9.1% and 117,000 total nonfarm jobs were added:

“Today’s Employment Report emphasizes that Washington must move quickly to enact common-sense measures to create jobs and strengthen the economy. Far too many Americans remain unemployed. We should provide new incentives for small firms to hire, such as a payroll tax credit for small businesses equal to 20 percent of the total increase in employee wages.   We need to strengthen U.S. manufacturing by creating a national manufacturing strategy that supports manufacturing companies and workers in our country and cracks down on China’s currency manipulation and other unfair trade practices.

“Yesterday, the JEC released a report on long-term unemployment. The report shows that workers are continuing to face near-record levels of long-term unemployment.  The longer an individual is unemployed, the harder it is to find a job – that’s why it’s so critical we act quickly to help Americans get back to work. “

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