Washington, D.C. — Today, Center for American Progress Economist Adam Hersh issued the following reaction to the announcement of January’s employment figures:
Today’s jobs data confirm that underlying economic trends—not the weather—continue holding back U.S. labor markets. Jobs continue moving in the right direction but not fast enough to solve America’s ongoing unemployment crisis. The headline unemployment rate, at 6.6 percent in January, would be nearly 10 percent if so many workers had not exited the labor force in frustration that a growing economy is not producing adequate opportunities for work.
This merely moderate recovery six years after a severe economic shock is a result of policies that choose fiscal austerity over job creation and investments in growth—a choice made again yesterday when Senate conservatives filibustered a bipartisan effort to renew emergency unemployment benefits for people looking for work for more than six months.
To speak with an expert about the monthly jobs report, contact Katie Peters at [email protected].
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