Coats Statement on October Jobs Report

INDIANAPOLIS — Joint Economic Committee Chairman Dan Coats (R-Ind.) issued the following statement regarding today’s report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) that the U.S. economy added 161,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in October and the unemployment rate decreased slightly to 4.9 percent.

“Today’s jobs report does little to change President Obama’s lackluster economic legacy. Far too many Americans are still looking for work or have given up on seeking a job. The labor force participation rate remains well below historic levels, and the real unemployment rate is closer to 10 percent when factoring in people who have given up looking for work within the last year and those who are underemployed and working part-time jobs. Rather than partner with Congress to put our country on a better path toward robust economic growth, President Obama has continued to promote policies that overtax, overspend and overregulate.

“In Indiana, we have seen that cutting taxes, controlling spending and reducing harmful regulations can boost economic growth. Our next president should look to Indiana as a model of how to get our national economy back on track.”

Note: According to BLS, monthly job growth has averaged 181,000 per month this year compared to 229,000 per month in 2015. The prime-age (25-54 years old) labor force participation rate is still down 1.3 percentage points since the recovery start in 2009. The broader unemployment rate (U-6), measuring total unemployed plus all persons marginally attached to the workforce and the total number of people employed part-time for economic reasons, is 9.5 percent.

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