Sen. Carper Statement on February Jobs Report

WASHINGTON – Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) released the following statement regarding February employment figures released today:

“The report of today’s positive jobs numbers is encouraging news. We have now seen 24 consecutive months of private sector job growth, creating over 3.9 million jobs with 2.2 million of those positions added in the last 12 months. With the private sector leading the way, we need to focus our efforts on jumpstarting the ability of companies to build and invent things here in America that other countries want to buy abroad. That’s why it is so important to continue the momentum in our manufacturing industry. One of the brightest spots for me in today’s jobs numbers was the increase of 31,000 manufacturing jobs last month. This shows that our support of the American manufacturing industry is working.

“These are promising figures and I am hopeful that these jobs numbers – in addition to other encouraging economic indicators we have seen in recent months – show that employers are gaining the confidence they need to expand their workforce and production. That said, an 8.3 percent unemployment rate is still too high and too many Delawareans remain out of work. We must continue our efforts to help our friends and neighbors get back to work. That’s why I am again partnering with our Congressional delegation to bring employers and prospective employees together at job fairs throughout our state. We’ll build on the success of last year’s job fairs throughout Delaware and hopefully help more folks in need find good jobs. But we can’t stop there. Congress and the Administration must continue to work to implement policies at the national level to provide a nurturing environment for job creation, like the bipartisan transportation bill we’re working to pass next week. This initiative would help rebuild America’s roads and bridges and modernize our transit systems – creating or saving almost three million good-paying American jobs in the process.

“I will continue to work with my colleagues in Congress and the Administration to pass this important bill and other measures that focus on reducing unemployment in the First State and across the country and that encourage businesses to expand and invest in a world class American workforce.”

Job Fair Schedule and Details:

• Kent County Job Fair: April 23, 2012 at Delaware State University in Dover

• Sussex County Job Fair: April 30, 2012 at Rehoboth Beach Convention Center in Rehoboth Beach

• New Castle County Job Fair: June 18, 2012 at Sheraton Wilmington South in New Castle

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