Washington, DC – Today, the Department of Labor announced the unemployment rate for December was 9.4 percent.  As the chart below shows, Democrats promised in their January 2009 “Romer-Bernstein Report” that the unemployment rate would be 7 percent at the end of 2010 if their stimulus passed.  Instead, the actual unemployment rate after the Democrats’ failed $1 trillion stimulus law is 2.4 percentage points higher.

In reaction to the disappointing  jobs report, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) issued the following statement:

“For the last two years, Washington has ignored the plight of the American people and job creators, and instead has saddled them with policies that have fostered uncertainty and killed jobs.  This report is very disappointing and proves the economy remains anemic.  If we have any hope of getting Americans back to work, Washington must get out of the way and let employers do what they do best and what America needs most – create jobs.  Essential to achieving that goal is creating a climate of certainty so we have a foundation for private sector job growth.  We can foster that economic climate by taking four concrete steps:  1) streamline the tax code that today is too costly, too complex and too burdensome for families and employers; 2) pass the pending free trade agreements so American businesses can make and then sell more goods and services around the world; 3) repeal the job-killing health care law; and 4) get spending under control so the debt isn’t crushing families and job creators.”
Sources: January 2009 Romer/Bernstein Report and actual U.S. Department of Labor data.

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