01.10.14

Ranking Member Sessions On Jobs Report: Nearly 5 People Left Workforce For Each 1 Job Added

WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement on the December jobs report:

“Today’s jobs report underscores a deeper problem facing our economy: a large and growing block of people who are chronically jobless and completely outside the workforce.  In December, the economy added only 74,000 jobs – not nearly enough to keep up with population growth –and 347,000 left the workforce.  That means for every one job added, nearly 5 people left the workforce entirely.  There are now nearly 92 million Americans outside the workforce, resulting in the lowest participation rate in 36 years.  The President’s immigration plan will only make things dramatically worse – and no amount of ‘promise zones’ will be a sufficient remedy for the millions of displaced workers. 

We must help people move off of welfare, off of unemployment, and into good-paying jobs that can support a family.  More tax, spend, borrow and regulate will only produce more joblessness, dependency and debt.  Instead, we need more American energy, streamlined taxes and regulations, a leaner and less wasteful government, better trade and immigration enforcement, and a reformed welfare system that helps struggling Americans realize the dream of financial independence.”