Washington, DC -- Congressman Eliot Engel (D-NY-17) said he was encouraged by the jobs creation progress shown in the October jobs report released Friday.  This is coupled with the positive revisions of the August and September reports.  Rep. Engel also called for passage of jobs legislation to boost the economy and get even more Americans back to work. 

Private payrolls grew by 104,000 jobs in October and the unemployment rate dropped modestly to a still too-high nine percent.  This news, coupled with job losses in the public sector, resulted in the economy gaining a total of 80,000 jobs.  More optimism came from the revised figures for August and September which showed 104,000 more jobs than previously tallied.

While the number of new jobs exceeded consensus forecasts, it was barely enough to keep up with population growth. In the two years since the recovery officially began, there are 14 million people still looking for work, with almost half of them out of work for six months or longer.  

Rep. Engel said, “Job growth is positive, up from the near-depression numbers of the Bush Administration.  The problem we are facing now is political.  We need a jobs bill.  President Obama presented a plan to create jobs and Senate Republicans blocked it.  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid then brought portions of it to a vote and Senate Republicans continue to block them.  Senate Democrats are going to bring up a provision to provide a tax break for businesses for hiring veterans – another provision of the President’s jobs bill – I trust Senate Republicans will not oppose that idea.  Meanwhile, the House Republican Majority refuses to put anything up for a vote.  We spent time last week re-affirming ‘In God We Trust’ as our national motto – something no one has questioned.  Maybe next week we’ll re-affirm ‘The Star Spangled Banner’ as our national anthem, or red, white and blue as our colors.  People need jobs and the Majority is just taking frivolous votes. 

“Many economists believe that deep budget cuts are the wrong prescription for a suffering economy, and that the federal government needs to spend to stimulate recovery.  The Tea Party-led Republican Majority instead is fixated on budget cuts and leading the nation repeatedly to the brink of default.  The Majority actually wanted to withhold aid to tornado and hurricane disaster victims unless other budgetary cuts were made to offset disaster assistance.  They have placed their ideological agenda ahead of helping middle and lower income families across the nation.

“Our economy is gradually making positive strides, in spite of Republican opposition to any effort to strengthen it.  Imagine what we could do if they’d join our efforts to pass the American Jobs Act – or similar legislation.  Let’s finally work together, and produce a jobs bill which helps the unemployed and aids employers at the same time.”

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