WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA), Chairman of the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee (JEC), released the following statement on the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ April 2012 jobs report showing that 115,000 total nonfarm jobs were added and the unemployment rate was little changed at 8.1 percent:

“Since February 2010, the private sector has added jobs for 26 consecutive months – boosting private-sector payrolls by more than 4.2 million positions during this time. However, the pace of job gains has slowed since the beginning of the year and stronger job growth is needed in order to lower the unemployment rate. Today’s report shows that our economy continues to recover, however, this month our economy added the fewest number of jobs since October 2011.

“It is clear that more must be done to help put more Americans back to work and lower the unemployment rate. The Senate is currently considering the Small Business Jobs and Tax Relief Act of 2012. This bill, which is similar to the Small Business Job Creation Tax Credit Act (S. 1330) I introduced last year, would give small businesses a 10-percent income tax credit on new payroll for hiring new workers or increasing employee wages. It would also allow businesses to fully deduct the cost of significant investments made this year, giving them an incentive to add jobs now. This is one common-sense step we can take right now to create jobs and strengthen the recovery.”

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