Washington, DC--Congressman Eliot Engel (D-NY-17) issued the following statement regarding today’s announcement of the unemployment rate dropping down to 9.7 percent, which is two-tenths of a percent less than last month. In addition, the economy added 431,000 jobs, primarily thanks to government hiring for the Census. Private sector jobs increased, but not as much as they increased the previous month. This marked the fifth consecutive month of job growth, and six out of the past seven months.

“There is no doubt that without the actions taken by Congress and President Obama last year, we would still be talking about job losses rather than the amount of jobs gained. This drop in the unemployment rate to 9.7 percent is a positive sign that continues to show the recovery is working. This is a good sign, but there is still a long way to go.

“We cannot reverse two years of recession overnight, nor can we turn the tide on a decade of declining middle class economic security. There is still much work to be done to assist the nearly eight million people who lost work during this economic crisis return to payrolls. We must remember that during the initial few months last year, the economy lost an average of 750,000 jobs each month. Even excluding the temporary census jobs, the economy has created nearly a half a million new jobs this year.

“Last month, the House passed the “Home Star” proposal to create jobs in manufacturing and construction by giving people rebates to upgrade the energy efficiency of their homes. In addition, we passed a bill extending unemployment benefits and providing tax cuts to help support the recovery. This follows previous House-passed bills to create and preserve jobs – such as the Jobs for Main Street Act and the Small Business and Infrastructure Jobs Tax Act. It is imperative that the Senate pass versions of these job creation bills so our recovery can continue and Americans can get back to work.

“I will continue to work with my colleagues in the House to pass legislation to create jobs and provide businesses with the resources they need to help get Americans back to work.”