Unemployment Rises to 8.3% As More Americans Leave the Workforce

WASHINGTON – Congresswoman Renee Ellmers released the following statement from her office in Washington this afternoon:

"Americans are suffering with little relief in sight. Today's unemployment report revealed that we have entered our 42nd month of continuous unemployment over 8 percent. People are giving up and things are only getting worse under President Obama's watch as millions more Americans wait in the fear that they will be next. It's clear that President Obama's plan has not worked and his attacks on the free market and job creators of America are taking their toll."

"This week, the House passed the Job Protection and Recession Prevention Act of 2012 - which will ensure that we will not raise taxes on our nation's job creators and bring further harm to our recovery. If President Obama and his Democratic colleagues in the Senate want to get serious about creating jobs and moving our economy 'forward,' they can start by reversing their destructive course and allow our over 30 bipartisan jobs bills to be voted on and signed into law."

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported this morning that the national unemployment rate rose to 8.3 percent as 150,000 people dropped out of the labor force altogether. The figures confirm what previous reports detailed- that the number of Americans exiting the workforce has exploded over the last year, with 12.8 million unemployed. 

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For more information, please visit Congresswoman Ellmers’ website at www.ellmers.house.gov or call (202) 225-4531.

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