Rangel On January Jobs Report: More Work To Do

Statement

Congressman Charles B. Rangel released the following statement today after the Department of Labor announced that the economy added 157,000 jobs and the unemployment rate rose to 7.9 percent in January. With private businesses adding 166,000 jobs, this marks the 35th consecutive month of private sector job growth:

"With 35 consecutive months of private sector job growth, today's jobs report shows that we are continuing to make progress. Yet the inability of Congress to find a long-term solution to our country's economic problems continues to foster a climate of great economic uncertainty.

Despite finding a way to avoid the fiscal cliff at the beginning of the year, we still face budget battles in the upcoming months. It is imperative that we work together to find a balanced, bi-partisan approach that creates jobs, invests in the future, protects Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, and responsibly reduces the deficit.

We cannot continue to govern crisis-by-crisis. Since the Republicans took control of the House in 2010, this approach has led to the first U.S. credit downgrade in history, the lowest level of private sector job growth in the past three years, and great economic uncertainty. Kicking the can down the road does not solve any of our problems; we should be focusing on jobs, jobs, and jobs."

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