Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney, Chair of the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee (JEC), released the following statement on the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ June jobs report showing that the unemployment rate decreased to 9.5 percent and 125,00 total nonfarm jobs were lost:
“While the expected decline in Census jobs offset the gain in private sector jobs, the June job numbers show that the labor market continues to recover, though more slowly than we would like. The economy has added private sector jobs every month during the first half of 2010 and almost 600,000 private sector jobs have been created since the beginning of the year. That is progress.
“The breadth of employment gains continues to widen. Manufacturing has now gained jobs six months in a row, adding 136,000 jobs in 2010. The temporary help sector has experienced nine consecutive months of job gains, adding 379,000 jobs since September 2009, and leisure and hospitality has added 123,000 jobs since the beginning of the year.
“We’ve come a great distance since last June, when we lost more than 450,000 private sector jobs. Actions taken by Democrats in Congress are working, but recent actions by Senate Republicans to block extension of unemployment benefits put our recovery at risk and do real harm to families who count on this assistance to make end meet. We need to put politics aside and do what’s good for our economy and fair to unemployed workers struggling to get by. The Joint Economic Committee is releasing a Majority Staff report today examining the research on unemployment benefits, which makes clear that these benefits do not inhibit job seekers from vigorously looking for or accepting work.
“While the unemployment rate declined this month, it remains far too high. It will take strong, sustained growth to regain the 8.4 million jobs lost during the Great Recession. It will also require action, especially in the area of small businesses. In June, the House passed legislation to help get capital flowing to small businesses so that they can hire more employees. In addition, we’ve increased the capital gains tax cut for those who invest in small businesses and increased the SBA loan guarantee limits for 7(a) loans from $2 million to $3 million. I hope that the Senate will soon follow suit.”
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