Congressman Larry Bucshon: We Can Do Better

Statement

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics jobs report released this morning, the U.S. unemployment rate edged down to 7.7% from 7.9% in January, while the economy added 236,000 nonfarm jobs. Congressman Larry Bucshon released the following statement regarding today's report.

Congressman Bucshon (IN-08) states:

"The unemployment rate may have slightly decreased from last month, yet this number is virtually unchanged since September of last year. While I am encouraged that more Americans were able to find work last month, I know that we can do better.

"There are still 12 million Americans that have not found work, some have even given up the search for a job altogether. Many jobs are going unfilled and we need to do everything we can to better connect workers with the education and training they need to compete for available jobs. This week I voted to approve the SKILLS Act in the House Education and the Workforce committee to fix our nation's broken job training system so that we can help provide those looking for work the skills and resources they need to find good paying jobs."

BACKGROUND:

Real unemployment, a measure that includes discouraged workers and those employed part-time who would rather work full-time, was 14.3 percent and the labor force participation rate was 63.5%.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, "The unemployment rate edged down to 7.7 percent in February but has shown little movement, on net, since September 2012." The total number of unemployed Americans is 12 million.

The number of long term unemployed (individuals unemployed for 27 weeks or longer) was at 4.8 million, which represents 40.5% of unemployed individuals.

Source