Washington, D.C.–Heather Boushey, Senior Economist at the Center for American Progress released the following statement on the announcement of the April unemployment figures:
“Following on the heels of last week’s lackluster report on economic growth, today’s employment report provides some hopeful signs. Employers have added an average of 233,000 jobs per month for the past three months, more than double the rate of the prior three months, although state and local cutbacks continue to drag down employment.
The less-rosy picture coming out of the household survey should give policymakers pause, however. While today’s job growth is an improvement, there is a large backlog of workers waiting in the unemployment queue as well as millions who have given up searching, but still want to work. We need to see job growth break above 300,000 and stay at that level for many months before the unemployment rate will begin to come back down.”
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