The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday that 192,000 jobs were created in February, bringing the unemployment rate down below 9% for the first time since April 2009. This is good news for our economic recovery, but job growth remains slower than hoped for. Senator Coons weighed in on what these new numbers mean for the economy in a press statement this afternoon:
“What we’re seeing is an economy that is clearly in recovery. Last month’s national jobs numbers are a welcome sign of progress I’m optimistic we’ll see in Delaware when its February numbers come out – that the economic policies put in place by President Obama and the Democratic Congress over the last two years are working. Entrepreneurs are investing in their businesses and putting more Americans to work. Make no mistake: there is considerably more work to do to keep our economy moving in this positive direction. Congress should remain focused on measures that help create jobs and make it easier for businesses to grow.”
Since taking office, Chris has been stressing the importance of focusing on job creation. In his maiden speech to the Senate on January 27, he proposed strategic investments in growing our high-tech and clean energy manufacturing sector, which creates quality, middle class jobs. Delaware, he noted, is already making strides is this area, with new innovation-based businesses choosing to locate there due to its talented workforce and state and local governments’ willingness to partner with the private sector. He said:
“One of the most compelling examples of this partnership took place over the past two years. More than one thousand people lost their jobs when General Motors shut down its plant in Newport, Delaware, in 2009, a plant that had been in production more than sixty years and was long touted as one of the most productive in the country.
Some of those workers packed up their families and sought work elsewhere in the country. Some stayed and found other work. Too many are still looking today. But they weren’t the only ones looking for jobs. Led by our tireless Governor, Jack Markell, those of us in state and local government in Delaware were engaged in a job search as well, and after months of searching and hard work, we were able to bring Fisker Automotive to Newport, Delaware, to take over and reinvest in the shuttered GM plant. We did it by bringing together state and local officials, UAW union leaders, and federal tax credits and investments.
…I was proud to be a small part of the team that brought Fisker to Delaware, but I’ll be even prouder to watch hundreds of Delawareans stream through the plant’s gates again when it reopens to build cutting-edge plug-in electric automobiles. When I asked the leadership of the new company what made them choose Delaware, it was a familiar answer – a skilled and reliable workforce, a responsive state and county governments, strong local infrastructure, and access to global markets through our roads, rails, and the Port of Wilmington.
…My state has also been at the forefront of high-tech job growth with innovative Delaware companies like ILC Dover, Solar Dock, and Miller Metal, as well as multinationals like Sanosil, Motech, and Fraunhofer USA that have brought jobs there.
I am proud that so many new products and technologies that are invented here are also ‘Made in America, Manufactured in Delaware.’ In Delaware, businesses have seen that we are ‘ready to go.’”
Over the coming months, Chris will continue to work with his colleagues to make the critical investments we need to spur the creation of more sustainable middle class jobs. At the same time, he will fight against budget proposals that focus solely on broad, disastrous cuts but fail to create jobs, like the budget passed by House Republicans earlier this year and defeated in the Senate. That measure, if adopted, would lead to a loss of an estimated 700,000 jobs, erasing the gains already made over the past few months. It is a budget Americans simply cannot afford.