Obama administration encouraged by steady unemployment rate
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Steady has become the new success as the national unemployment rate remained constant in what the Obama administration on Friday called an encouraging sign of economic improvement.
The unemployment rate held at 9.7% in February, but employers shed a net of 36,000 jobs, according to the Labor Department. The loss was less than what had been expected.
‘Although the labor market remains severely distressed, today’s report on the employment situation is consistent with the pattern of stabilization and gradual labor market healing we have been seeing in recent months,’ said Christina Romer, head of the Council of Economic Advisors.
In television interviews, she said the numbers were an encouraging sign that job improvement had taken hold.
‘An unemployment rate of 9.7% is unacceptably high, and we need to achieve robust employment growth in order to recover from the terrible job losses that began over two years ago,” she said in her statement. “That is why it is essential that Congress pass additional responsible measures to promote job creation. It is also vital that we continue to support those struggling with unemployment.”
President Obama is expected to make the same points later Friday when he visits an Arlington, Va., small business to speak on clean energy and job creation.
[Updated 9:27 a.m.: ‘This morning we learned that in February our economy lost an additional 36,000 jobs,’ Obama said. ‘Now, this is actually better than expected, considering the severe storms all along the East Coast are estimated to have had a depressing effect on the numbers. And it shows that the measures that we’re taking to turn our economy around are having some impact. But even though it’s better than expected, it’s more than we should tolerate.’] According to the Labor Department, the number of officially unemployed remained at nearly 15 million, with about 40% having been out of work for six months or longer. And the department’s broader measure of unemployment and underemployment rose to 16.8% last month, from 16.5% in January.
Those figures are ominous during an election year. Both houses of Congress have recently passed limited jobs bills, and more are expected after the Easter break at the end of the month.
-- Michael Muskal
