Statement of Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis on September employment numbers

WASHINGTON – Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis issued the following statement on the September 2010 Employment Situation report released today:

"This past September, nonfarm payroll employment edged down 95,000 jobs, but the economy gained 64,000 jobs in the private sector, and the unemployment rate remained at 9.6 percent.

"In the six months before the president took office, we lost nearly 4 million jobs. We now have added private sector jobs for nine straight months, totaling 863,000 private sector jobs since the beginning of the year. While we need to pick up the pace of recovery to erase the job losses and get Americans back to work, this encouraging growth shows that we are headed in the right direction.

"To continue our commitment to American workers, this week, the president announced the Skills for America's Future initiative that will make it easier to connect students looking for jobs with businesses looking to hire. Our community colleges serve as a gateway to good jobs for millions of middle class Americans, and this initiative will dramatically improve private sector partnerships with community colleges to maximize workforce development strategies, increase job placement and ensure American competiveness.

"As the secretary of labor, I have traveled around the country to observe many of the innovative ways that community colleges are training American workers. At the Department of Labor, we work with community colleges across the country to provide apprenticeship training and job training skills.

"Working together through many of our One-Stop Career Centers, community colleges have been a strategic partner in providing the necessary training for our nation's workforce. And I'm proud to say that in the last 18 months, more than 1 million program participants – who were unemployed at participation – in our Workforce Investment Act Adult, Dislocated Worker, National Emergency Grant and Older Youth programs have obtained employment within three months of their program exit.

"While we are working to speed the pace of job creation and hiring, we continue to work for small businesses. This commitment is reflected in the Small Business Jobs bill the president signed last week – a bill that represents the most significant step on behalf of our small businesses in more than a decade.

"In addition, last week we learned that the Recovery Act has been so efficient in distributing its funds that 3,000 more projects have been funded than originally anticipated. Consequently, as the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has noted, the Recovery Act is on track to meet the administration's goal of preserving 3.5 million jobs by the end of the year.

"We are on the road to recovery. The president and I have confidence in the American economy, and we have confidence in the American people. We will continue fighting every day to keep this economy moving forward."