Obama's "New Normal": Tepid January Jobs Report, High Unemployment Continues

Statement

Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX), incoming Chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, said context is needed in today's Bureau of Labor Statistics' (BLS) report that the economy added 166,000 private sector payroll jobs in January and the unemployment rate rose to 7.9%.

"This is Obama's new normal: a run-in-place jobs report and unemployment stuck near 8 percent," says Brady. "America is missing nearly four million jobs that should have already been created if President Obama's economic leadership had merely been average."

The White House now boasts it has added six million private payroll jobs over the past 35 months. But according to Joint Economic Committee staff analysis using the president's own metrics, an average economic recovery would have added 10 million private payroll jobs over the same period - and a Reagan-style recovery would have added more than 13 million new jobs.

"Bottom line: over 22 million Americans still can't find a full-time job. The job market should have fully recovered by now, but it hasn't due in large measure to President Obama's failed economic leadership," added Brady.

According to the BLS, America has nearly three million fewer private payroll jobs today than in January 2008 when private sector employment peaked. 12 million people remain unemployed, 8.0 million can only find get part-time work, and another 2.4 million have quit looking for work.

Brady also noted the irony that today's jobs report comes one day after the termination of the President's "Jobs Council."

"Apparently he believes their work is done. Twenty two million Americans without full-time jobs might disagree."

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