Lackluster Hiring in May Shows Intensifying Need for Infrastructure Investment

“America is still waiting for Congress to take ownership of our nation’s ongoing unemployment crisis”

Washington, D.C. (June 7, 2013) – Today’s jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed a net gain of just 175,000 jobs last month, increasing the national unemployment rate to 7.6 percent. Construction, one of the hardest hit sectors by the recession, improved slightly in May but continues to face double-digit unemployment at 10.8 percent.

Terry O’Sullivan, General President of LIUNA – the Laborers’ International Union of North America –made the following statement on today’s employment numbers:

“May was the third consecutive month of lackluster hiring by U.S. employers, on top of an already unacceptably high unemployment rate. Five and half years after the onset of the Great Recession and America is still waiting for Congress to take ownership of our nation’s ongoing unemployment crisis and wondering when Congress will add “job creation” to their list of priorities.

“Meanwhile, our nation’s basic infrastructure is falling apart, which was dramatically underlined two weeks ago by the Interstate 5 bridge collapse in Washington State and yet again this week by the EPA’s congressional assessment that found much of America’s drinking water infrastructure is between 50 to 100 years old and that a $384.2 billion dollar federal investment is required through 2030 to ensure the safe delivery of drinking water to 297 million Americans.

“The way forward is clear. Bold and comprehensive federal infrastructure investment is needed to lower unemployment, shrink the federal deficit, protect American lives, livelihoods and living standards and to shift our national economy back into high gear.”