House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan was not impressed with the disappointing jobs report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics Friday.
Just 142,000 jobs were added in the month of September, far lower than the 203,000 Bloomberg economists projected. The unemployment rate hovered at 5.1 percent, with 7.9 million people out of work. The U-6 rate, which takes underemployment into account, dropped to 10 percent, .3 percent lower than August’s numbers.
“This just isn’t good enough,” Ryan said in a statement. “Flat wages, weak job growth, and far too many people simply giving up. This recovery continues to disappoint, but we can’t accept it as the new normal.”
The employment gains reported in July and August’s reports were adjusted down by a total of 59,000, to 173,000 and 136,000 additions respectively. Hourly wages also took a slight dip to $25.09, down one cent from the previous month.
The report indicates the economy is slowing and comes shortly after the Federal Reserve’s recent decision to refrain from raising interest rates due to the lack of global stability.
White House economic advisor Jason Furman defended the numbers, saying although the pace of economic growth has slowed, September was the 67th straight month of job growth.
As of Friday afternoon, the markets took a 200-point tumble in response to the lackluster report.
Ryan called the Obama administration’s economic policies a “failure,” and said major changes need to be made.
“There are solutions: rewriting our broken tax code, expanding American exports through strong trade agreements, and reforming our safety net programs to help people move from welfare to work,” the Wisconsin Republican suggested.
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