Washington, DC--Congressman Eliot Engel (D-NY-17) issued the following statement regarding today’s announcement that the unemployment rate remained steady in March. This was coupled with news of an increase of 162,000 jobs, compared to a loss of 14,000 in February. In January 2009, the economy lost over 750,000 jobs in the final days of the Bush Administration.

“Today’s unemployment news is again a welcome sign. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said this week the unemployment rate is expected to remain ‘unacceptably high’ for the near term. This high unemployment rate is despite the great strides made since President Obama took office in reversing the job losses. Despite bold steps taken by Congress and President Obama, the hole to dig out from was extremely deep and will not be fixed overnight.

“Recent signs have been positive, with the last few unemployment reports showing only slight losses, and even a few gains. This comes after months and months of catastrophic losses. However, none of this is comforting news to those who are currently out of work.

“Since December 2007, the nation has lost more jobs than in any period of time since World War II. The damage from this economic crisis has been swift and severe, and unfortunately, the recovery will be slow. But actions taken by Congress and President Obama last year staved off losing thousands of more jobs each month. The economy is recovering, including a 5.6 percent growth in the GDP in the fourth quarter of 2009. New claims for unemployment benefits dropped in late March for the first time since September 2008. These are positive developments, but that does not help the family dealing with months of unemployment deal with the reality of paying the rent and putting food on the table.

“But we cannot be complacent, and we must do more. I will continue to work with my colleagues in the House to pass legislation to create jobs and provide businesses with the resources needed to help bring more jobs to American communities. Partisan bickering must end, and the Senate must cease its procedural quibbling when it comes to people’s lives and pass legislation to extend unemployment benefits to those families hit hardest by these economic hardships.”

Attached is a chart reflecting the amount of jobs lost from December 2007 until the end of 2009.