Washington, D.C., Nov 6, 2009 -

The U.S. Department of Labor reported that unemployment in the U.S. rose to 10.2%, with 190,000 Americans losing their jobs in October.  In addition to the Department of Labor’s data, Automatic Data Processing (ADP) released a report on Wednesday showing that businesses with less than 50 employees shed 75,000 private sector jobs in October.

Ranking Member Sam Graves (R-MO) of the House Small Business Committee commented:

“The unemployment rate released today is unacceptable.  The White House and Speaker Pelosi have got to wake up and realize the situation our nation is in.  The stimulus wasted taxpayer dollars, and tomorrow Congress will vote on a government-run health care plan that, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation, will raise taxes on small businesses by $150 billion and surely destroy more small business jobs.  The Congressional Budget Office says the Republican health care plan will lower costs by 10 percent and decrease the deficit by $68 billion.  It’s time to start listening to what Americans really need, quality health insurance that our country can afford.”

###