Boehner: US Economy ‘Treading Water,’ Jobs Report Shows
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Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call(WASHINGTON) — The economy added 162,000 jobs in July, fewer than economists expected, as unemployment fell to 7.4 percent, the Labor Department reported Friday.
Many economists expected the addition of 175,000 to 185,000 jobs in July and the average workweek to remain unchanged at 34.5 hours. The average workweek fell by 0.1 hour in July to 34.4 hours.
The White House said Friday’s jobs report is “further confirmation that the U.S. economy is continuing to recover,” but that “more work remains to be done.”
“It is critical that we remain focused on pursuing policies to speed job creation and expand the middle class, as we continue to dig our way out of the deep hole that was caused by the severe recession that began in December 2007,” said Alan Krueger, chairman of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers.
Speaker of the House John Boehner said that Friday’s report shows the economy is “treading water.”
“Three years after the Obama administration proclaimed ‘welcome to the recovery,’ we’re still seeing the same thing month after month: not enough new jobs and an unemployment rate far higher than promised,” Boehner said in a statement.
“Nearly five years of aggressive intervention by Washington — the ‘stimulus’ era of excessive spending, excessive red tape, and abuse by agencies like the IRS — has left our economy treading water with slow growth, high unemployment, and stagnant wages,” the speaker continued. “The Republican jobs plan will shake us out of this ‘new normal’ with pro-growth policies designed to expand energy production, simplify our tax code for everyone, and restore our nation of builders to give the American people the robust growth and opportunity they deserve.”
Last month, the Labor Department reported a higher-than-expected addition of 195,000 jobs for June, though part-time work increased over 350,000 from May to June, reflecting weakness in the quality of jobs available. Friday’s report included revisions for previous months, lowering the number of jobs added in May to 176,000 from 195,000, and in June to 188,000 from 195,000.
The report indicated the labor force participation rate, which measures the percentage of adults who are either employed or jobless but actively looking for work, fell to 63.4 percent in July from 63.5 percent in June.
The employment-population ratio was unchanged at 58.7 percent.
The economy has been adding jobs for 34 straight months, since October 2010.
On Thursday, the Labor Department’s jobless claims report indicated the number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell 19,000 to 326,000, the fewest since January 2008.
On Wednesday, private payroll provider ADP reported employers added 200,000 jobs in July, the fastest pace since December.
And the Commerce Department’s GDP report showed the U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of 1.7 percent in the second quarter of this year, better than what most economists expected but showing only mild growth. In the first quarter, GDP rose only 1.1 percent.
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