Contact: Rob Ostrander or Shana Stribling 202.224.5721
Saturday, April 22, 2006

Washington, DC - U.S. Senators Jim Talent and Kit Bond today announced that over the last year, Missouri’s economy was among the fastest-growing in the country. Missouri added 33,900 new jobs and the state’s unemployment rated dropped a full percent from March 2005 to March 2006. Only New Mexico and Ohio saw a greater decrease in their unemployment rates according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

“This is good news for our workers and our state’s economy,” said Sen. Talent. “We need to continue pushing a pro-growth, pro-jobs agenda that includes permanent tax relief and legislation to lower the cost of health insurance for our small business people and their workers.”

“Since Congress passed common-sense tax reform, Missouri families, small business owners, farmers and entrepreneurs have been able to keep more of their own money to save and invest,” said Sen. Bond. “As a result more jobs are being created and the economy is growing. Empowered American families and entrepreneurs are proving their resilience over great challenges.”

The Bureau of Labor Statistics released today its Regional and State Employment and Unemployment report for March 2006. This report is available at http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/laus.pdf