Lee Statement on December Jobs Report
Contact Kristal DeKleer (202) 225-1882
Washington, D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA) issued the following response to the figures released by the Department of Labor showing a slight decline in unemployment rates:
“Today’s report shows that the unemployment rate continues to slowly trend downward. After gaining just 200,000 new jobs in December, the national unemployment rate remains distressingly high at 8.5%. We must target investment and focus our efforts at rapidly reducing unemployment, especially among those hardest hit which continue to be youth (23.1%), Hispanics (11%), and African Americans, whose unemployment rate rose from 15.5% last month to 15.8% in today’s report. Further, we must immediately invest in programs and projects that not only make our country better, but provide jobs for the 5.6 million people in this country who have been out of work for longer than 52 weeks and are struggling.
“There can be no clearer reminder of the ongoing racial and ethnic disparities that continue to plague our nation and keep minority communities suffering disproportionately higher rates of unemployment, poverty, and tragic health disparities like unconscionably higher rates of HIV infection. We need action now.
“For an entire year in the majority, House Republican leadership has failed to enact any jobs measures or put forth any clear jobs agenda. Congress must enact President Obama’s American Jobs Act and put people back to work. We must address the immediate needs of the long-term unemployed. I reiterate my call to Speaker Boehner to allow an up or down vote on H.R. 589, a bill I introduced that would provide fourteen weeks of benefits for those who have exhausted their unemployment benefits and are now off the books and in desperate need.
“Americans are waiting; Democrats have been prepared to act; and Republicans must join us in creating jobs and reigniting the American Dream for all.”
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