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BLS Reports Job Growth Has Slowed Significantly Over Last Year

BLS Reports Job Growth Has Slowed Significantly Over Last Year

Weak National Jobs Data Shows Need for New Approach

(Washington, DC) – Today, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released the monthly jobs report for the month of September, which was delayed by the government shutdown. According to BLS, the economy added just 148,000 jobs last month, and the unemployment rate was little changed to 7.2 percent. This is the same rate as December 2008, just before President Obama took office. Over the last year however, job growth has slowed significantly. In the last quarter of 2012, the economy added an average of nearly 210,000 jobs each month. Over the last 3 months however, the average is just 143,000.

The unemployment rate for Hispanics remains well above the rate for all Americans, stagnant at 9 percent. Labor force participation – a measure of the number of people working or looking for work – remains at an extremely low rate of 63.2 percent, a level not seen since 1978.

Daniel Garza, Executive Director of The LIBRE Initiative released the following statement:

"Today's jobs report brings just one more piece of bad economic news. It's no wonder that 75 percent of Americans now agree that this country is headed down the wrong track, according to recent polls. Clearly, Americans want change – change from a bad economy, change from the expanding federal regulation, and change from overtaxation that is a key factor of the slow job growth.

President Obama is the one person elected by a majority of American voters to lead this country and they expect him to pull together the leaders in Washington and begin to address the fundamentals that are stagnating growth. It is time to stop adding to the national debt, start a responsible plan that reins in spending, includes necessary budget cuts, and gets government out of the way of small business owners and entrepreneurs who are critical to the job creation this country needs to improve the economic standing of American households and the country as a whole."

For interviews with a LIBRE representative, please contact:   Judy Pino, 202-578-6424 or Brian Faughnan, 571-257-3309.