Brady encouraged, says 13.7 million more jobs needed

Washington, D.C. -America’s unemployment rate ticked

down to 8.9% in February according to numbers released Friday by the

Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Republican Congressman Kevin Brady

of Texas, the top Republican on the Joint Economic Committee, is

encouraged by the new jobs numbers but warned they need to improve

substantially to get the 13.7 million Americans without jobs back to

work.

"While I'm pleased to see 192,000 new payroll jobs,

America is still saddled with fewer payroll jobs today than when the

recession officially ended 20 months ago," said Brady. "We consistently

need at least 250,000 new jobs a month if the country hopes to make

significant inroads in our unemployment numbers.”

“Business

investment is the key to job growth which is why Republicans in Congress

are focused on removing barriers to growth including new Washington

regulations, mandates and the potential of higher taxes due to these

dangerous deficits.”

While the number of layoffs has declined,

the nation is not experiencing the necessary improvement in job openings

for college graduates or the long term unemployed trying to reenter the

job market.

The number of long term unemployed remains high at 6 million with marginal improvements over the last several months.