Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney Holds a Hearing On the June Employment Statistics

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Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney Holds a Hearing On the June Employment Statistics

JOINT ECONOMIC COMMITTEE HOLDS A HEARING ON THE JUNE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION

JULY 2, 2010

SPEAKERS: REP. CAROLYN B. MALONEY, D-N.Y. CHAIR REP. MAURICE D. HINCHEY, D-N.Y. REP. LORETTA SANCHEZ, D-CALIF. REP. ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS, D-MD. REP. BARON P. HILL, D-IND. REP. VIC SNYDER, D-ARK.

REP. KEVIN BRADY, R-TEXAS RANKING MEMBER REP. RON PAUL, R-TEXAS REP. MICHAEL C. BURGESS, R-TEXAS REP. JOHN CAMPBELL, R-CALIF.

SEN. CHARLES E. SCHUMER, D-N.Y. VICE CHAIRMAN SEN. MARK WARNER, D-VA. SEN. JEFF BINGAMAN, D-N.M. SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR, D-MINN. SEN. BOB CASEY, D-PA. SEN. JIM WEBB, D-VA.

SEN. SAM BROWNBACK, R-KAN. RANKING MEMBER SEN. JIM DEMINT , R-S.C. SEN. JIM RISCH, R-IDAHO SEN. ROBERT F. BENNETT, R-UTAH

WITNESSES: KEITH HALL, COMMISSIONER, BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS, LABOR DEPARTMENT

[*] MALONEY: The meeting will come to order. And I -- I would first like to recognize myself for my opening statement.

Today's employment report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that in June the economy added 83,000 private sector jobs, the sixth straight month of employment gains in the private sector. And you can see that the -- the light blue is the gains of jobs in the private sector.

The red, the so-called v-chart that we've used in the Joint Economic Committee, is when President Bush was in office. And as you see at the -- down in the valley at the low point we lost over 779,000 jobs the last month that President Bush was in office. When President Obama took office, it has been a zigzag. But we are trending in the right direction. And we are gaining private sector jobs.

Since the beginning of this year, in fact, the economy has added 593 jobs in the private sector. As expected, the June report also showed a sharp decline in temporary census workers, government workers causing total non-farm payrolls to decline for the first time this year. Additionally, the June employment report showed that the employment rate ticked down to 9.5 percent. And the number of unemployed workers declined by 350,000.

Although the overall unemployment rate has declined from its peak of 10.1 percent in October, not all demographic groups are seeing the same trends in unemployment rates. For example, the unemployment rate for African-American workers continued to rise after October, although the current unemployment rate of 15.4 percent is lower than the peak of 16.5 percent.

Although the unemployment rate for women showed little change in the first five months of 2010, the unemployment rate for women declined in June to 8.3 percent. We have made real progress in the past year. Last June this country lost 452,000 private sector jobs. While these job gains are ...

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