Says progress is encouraging, but that Congress needs to refocus on job creation during lame-duck session
Congresswoman Chellie Pingree today said that she is encouraged by continued job growth in October’s national jobs report, but stressed the need for Congress to refocus on job creation over the next two months.
“For the fourth straight month, we’ve seen job growth of over 100,000 jobs, the first time that’s happened in four years,” said Pingree. “That’s very encouraging, but we’re certainly not out of the woods. To keep this momentum going, we need to keep fighting for legislation that creates jobs, supports working families, and helps our small businesses.”
Before the end of the legislative session, Pingree urged Congress to take up legislation to extend tax cuts for the middle class, create more tax breaks for small businesses, and help businesses get the capital they need to create jobs for local economies.
“More than once the House has voted to extend bonds for economic recovery zones, only for it to stall in the Senate,” said Pingree. “This legislation is critical for companies to get low-cost financing to build in places that need desperately need development, like around Brunswick Naval Air Station. We need the Senate to pass this extension so much-needed economic development isn’t stalled and to ensure that we can continue to create good jobs.”
Recovery Zone bonds are designated for areas having significant poverty, unemployment, rate of home foreclosures, or any area designated as economically distressed as a result of a military base closure or realignment, such as Brunswick.
The national unemployment rate remains at 9.6%, but the private sector added 159,000 jobs in October. Maine unemployment for September was 7.7%, the lowest rate in nearly a year and a half. The counties of Southern and Midcoast Maine, however, showed the lowest unemployment numbers in nearly two years.
In October, one of the state’s largest job boards, Jobsinme.com, also announced that it is has the most job openings and active companies posting since the beginning of the economic crisis. The jobs report is available online.
“It is very encouraging that Maine has continued a strong upward trend of jobs being posted, returning to the high of September 2008, just before the real losses hit Maine’s economy,” said Jeremy Haskell, who tracks numbers for the company. “That Maine has returned to a two-year high in openings bodes well for continued recovery here in Vacationland.”