Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX), Chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, today cited the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report that the economy added 148,000 nonfarm payroll jobs and 126,000 private sector jobs in September as “another flat can of soda that lacks carbonation.”

“While I’m glad to see some Americans getting paying jobs, this recovery continues to let the American people down. A smaller percentage of adult Americans are employed now than when the Obama recovery began more than four years ago,” Brady observed.

“The unemployment rate has fallen primarily because many workers have given up. That’s not what Americans want. We must restore confidence in the private sector to spur the investment that drives job creation. That’s the only way Main Street is going to get back on its feet, not through more ‘feel good’ federal spending and monetary morphine.”

“The economy is still producing 100,000 fewer private jobs every month than are needed to make up ground on other recoveries. The private sector jobs gap compared to other post-1960 recoveries is still over 4 million jobs – and that’s using the White House’s own metric of measuring off the low point for private sector payroll jobs.”

“Now that we have moved past the threat of default, it’s time to get serious about putting together a budget that the government can live within and pro-growth tax reforms that encourage small businesses to invest and hire.”