Jeff Bingaman United States Senator from New Mexico

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman today said news that the economy added 290,000 jobs last month was good sign that the country is moving in the right direction.  Bingaman pointed out that just over one year ago, the economy was shedding more than 700,000 jobs every month.

Many people who had previously given up hope of finding a job have begun to look for work again, which helped the labor force grow by 805,000 people.  As a result, the unemployment rate climbed slightly from 9.7% to 9.9%.  This is because the Labor Department did not count these new job-seekers as unemployed while they were not looking for work, but the Department now counts them.

The Labor Department reported that 550,000 more people were working last month than the month before.

"Today's news that the country's economy added 290,000 jobs last month - the fastest rate of job grown in four years - is a sign that the economic recovery policies passed by Congress are working.  While we are not nearly where we need to be, today's news shows we are headed in the right direction," Bingaman said.  "We are seeing a good trend now in job growth and I hope we will continue to create jobs at an even faster pace."