WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA), Chairman of the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee (JEC), released the following statement after the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ March jobs report showing that the unemployment rate ticked down to 8.8 percent and 216,000 total nonfarm jobs were added:
“This is the 13th month in a row of private sector job gains. We’ve added almost half a million private sector jobs in the past two months -- a particularly encouraging sign.
“Again this month, we saw broad-based job gains with employment gains in manufacturing, professional and business services, and leisure and hospitality. The number of unemployed workers has dropped by more than two million since peaking in October 2009. While we’ve made considerable progress, we’ll need to continue the recent job growth to bring the unemployment rate down further.
“The private sector is a key to continued progress. In the weeks ahead, I look forward to hearing from private sector leaders about additional ideas they have to spur job creation and strengthen our recovery.”
###
