LIUNA on December Jobs Report: U.S. Economy Recovering Too Slowly, Federal Infrastructure Investments Needed to Spur Growth

Washington, D.C. (January 4, 2013) – According to today’s jobs report from the U.S. Labor Department, job growth stalled in December, leaving the national unemployment rate unchanged at 7.8 percent. The construction industry added 30,000 jobs last month, rebounding slightly from November’s decline of 20,000. Terry O’Sullivan, General President of LIUNA – the Laborers’ International Union of North America – made the following statement about the slow pace of U.S. economic growth:

“Our economy is recovering far too slowly for the millions of Americans who want and need work. America is in dire need of aggressive federal investments in our nation’s critical infrastructure to accelerate economic recovery, reduce the federal deficit and put Americans back to work.

“When we invest in critical infrastructure – our roads, bridges, highways and transit systems – we create desperately needed middle class jobs. That puts money into the hands working families, which stimulates consumer spending and generates real economic development. “Without aggressive federal investments that create jobs, our economy will continue to limp along, too weak to make significant employment gains on its own.

“Now that several key provisions of the fiscal cliff debate are behind us, Congress needs to put America’s working families back on top of their priority list and commit the resources needed to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure. Doing so will put a million unemployed construction workers back to work and provide the middle class wages our economy desperately needs.”