08.07.09

Miller & Kennedy Statement on July Jobs Numbers

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA) and U.S. Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA), the chairmen of the House and Senate Labor Committees, issued the following statement today after the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that 247,000 jobs were lost in July and the unemployment rate dropped to 9.4 percent.
“When President Obama inherited this economic crisis seven months ago, our nation was shedding 700,000 jobs a month. Today's decline in unemployment – the lowest number of jobs we’ve lost in the last year – is very good news for working families. It shows that President Obama's economic recovery program is working – saving jobs in classrooms, police stations, and firehouses and creating new jobs for Americans in construction and renewable energy fields. While our nation’s road to recovery will take time and patience, there is no doubt that we are moving in the right direction.

“Even in the midst of this promising news, it’s clear we still have a long way to go. More than 5 million Americans have been looking for work for more than six months, without success. We must do more to help these working families keep food on their tables and hope in their hearts. An extension of unemployment benefits should be at the top of Congress’s agenda when we return in the fall.”