Today, Congressman Don Beyer (D-VA), Chairman of the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee (JEC), released the following statement after the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that nonfarm payroll employment increased by 263,000 in September, and the unemployment rate decreased to 3.5%. The unemployment rate fell to 5.8% for Black workers, 3.8% for Hispanic workers and 2.5% for Asian workers, and it ticked up slightly to 7.1% (not seasonally adjusted) for American Indian and Alaska Native workers. 

“Today’s jobs report makes clear that the U.S. economy is on the right path to sustainable job growth. Months of history-making job gains enabled the United States to recover more jobs than were lost during the pandemic. New data signal that the pace of job growth is returning to more normal and stable levels, which is essential to our fight against inflation.

“The strength of our labor market rebound is a testament to Democrats’ investments in workers and families. Laws like the American Rescue Plan helped contain the economic fallout of the pandemic, jumpstart our recovery and pave the way for broad-based growth that brought new jobs to every state and every Congressional district. Since President Biden came into office, the United States has added 10 million jobs nationwide. The unemployment rate ticked down to 3.5%, what it was before the pandemic, which was a 50-year low. This is a sign of a healthy labor market where workers can secure better jobs with higher wages.\

“With pro-growth investments via the Inflation Reduction Act, the CHIPS and Sciences Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Democrats are cutting costs, creating jobs and reducing long-term inflationary pressures. These investments will bring down the costs of health insurance and prescription drugs for millions of Americans. And by promoting more clean, secure, American-made energy, Democrats are taking steps to insulate households from energy price spikes while creating good-paying clean energy jobs around the country.

“This pro-worker, pro-family, pro-business economic agenda should be one we can all get behind, and yet Republicans have continued to obstruct and vote against these efforts. President Biden and Congressional Democrats have laid a strong foundation for an economy that works for everyone, and we are moving full steam ahead to make it a reality.”