Press Releases

(Evansville, IN) – Congressman Larry Bucshon (IN-08) released the following comment in regards to the September jobless rate.  The rate decreased to 7.8 percent, down from 8.1 percent the previous month.  The unemployment rate is at the same level, 7.8 percent, when President Obama took office in January 2009.

Congressman Bucshon (IN-08) states:

“With more than 12 million Americans unemployed and 2.5 million giving up their search for work, we cannot continue down this path of failed economic policies from the Obama administration that has led to prolonged unemployment, four consecutive years of trillion dollar deficits, and anemic economic growth.  For too long, hardworking Americans are being burdened with uncertainty in the job market due to the threat of higher taxes, a near government takeover of health care, and a failed stimulus.

“In an effort to help where the President’s policies have failed, I am proud to have introduced the Military CDL Act in the House last month as a companion to the Senate bill that will be signed into law.  This legislation will help members of the armed services obtain civilian CDLs in order to help them find jobs when leaving the service.  We need to continue working to help Americans find jobs.”

Background:

The Military CDL Act passed the House on September 28, 2012 by unanimous consent.  You can read more about the legislation here.

The U.S. economy added 114,000 jobs in September.  The number of unemployed persons was 12.1 million in September.  The labor force participation rate changed little to 63.6 percent.

 The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the 2nd quarter increased at a rate of 1.3 percent, down from 2.0 percent in the 1st quarter.

 Figures from the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey, compiled by Sentier Research, show that the typical American household’s real (inflation-adjusted) income has dropped 5.7 percent since the last month of the recession in June 2009.  Using constant 2012 dollars (to adjust for inflation), the median annual income of American households was $53,718 as of June 2009 and after 38 months of this “recovery,” it has fallen to $50,678 — a drop of $3,040 per household.

According to the projections in “The Job Impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan” released on January 9, 2009 by then President-elect Obama’s Council on Economic Advisors, the unemployment rate would never exceed 8 percent and would be near 5.5 percent for September 2012 after the Stimulus was enacted.  Interestingly enough, the report also predicted the unemployment rate would be 6 percent in September 2012 without the Stimulus.

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