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The White House has issued a response to the new jobs report showing 243,000 jobs added in January 2012 and the unemployment rate dropping to 8.3%.
Alan B. Krueger, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, explains: “Today’s employment report provides further evidence that the economy is continuing to heal from the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. It is critical that we continue the economic policies that are helping us to dig our way out of the deep hole that was caused by the recession that began at the end of 2007.”
Krueger goes on to call for an extension of the payroll tax cut, as well as extending unemployment benefits until the end of the year.
He highlights the statistics showing an economic recovery in progress: “The unemployment rate fell 0.2 percentage point to 8.3%, from a high of 10% in October 2009. The drop in unemployment over the month was entirely due to employment growth, as the labor force participation rate remained constant, once new population weights are taken into account. The unemployment rate has fallen by 0.8 percentage point in the last 12 months. Private sector payrolls increased by 257,000 jobs and overall payroll employment rose by 243,000 jobs in January. Despite adverse shocks that have created headwinds for economic growth, the economy has added private sector jobs for 23 straight months, for a total of 3.7 million payroll jobs over that period. In the last 12 months, 2.2 million private sector jobs were added on net.”
At the end, he cautions, “it is important not to read too much into any one monthly report; nevertheless, the trend in job market indicators over recent months is an encouraging sign.”
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