Today’s economic news reminds us that the jobs crisis is still a serious threat to the financial security of working Americans. Our country’s leaders need to get serious about stimulating job growth. The 112,000 jobs added last month are a start, but more than eight million people are still out of work and we must create 150,000 new jobs a month just to absorb new entrants into the workforce. Too many of the jobs that are opening up are like those at WalMart - - dead end jobs. We’ve got a long way to go before working Americans can rest assured that enough good jobs are being created.

We lost 11,000 manufacturing jobs last month - - that’s the forty-second consecutive month of job loss in this sector which is so key to a strong middle class. The stubbornly high unemployment rate (5.6%) is a sobering statistic. And companies are still laying off workers at an alarming rate. This week, U.S. corporations announced 117,556 layoffs in January, up 26 percent from December.

We need a real plan to stimulate job growth. The number of long-term unemployed continues to increase and we still don’t have meaningful economic policies to address the crisis. The Bush Administration’s wait-and-see approach to a rebound in the jobs market is little consolation for the millions of long-term unemployed who cannot find jobs.

Nearly two million unemployed will exhaust their state unemployment benefits in the next six months without jobs or emergency federal benefits to fall back on. We urge the president to reverse his opposition to an extension of benefits. A bipartisan vote in the House this week for an amendment to extend benefits clearly shows that lawmakers want to help families who are running out of options to avoid bankruptcy and homelessness.

Clearly, working families need economic policies that will help them build a strong foundation for future generations. The big economic picture shows that we have a long way to go to meet that goal.

Contact Suzanne Ffolkes 202-637-5018