Today, Congressman Paul Tonko released the following statement on the announcement by the Bureau of Labor Statistics that in April 2010, the United States economy created 290,000 jobs – 231,000 of them in the private sector. In the first four months of 2010, 573,000 jobs have been created compared to a similar point last year, when our economy was losing 750,000 jobs each month:

“This news today is reflective of my top priority in Congress – growing the economy and creating jobs.  This is the largest number of new jobs in four years and the fourth consecutive month of job growth. Despite this, we still have a long way to go to replace the nearly eight million Americans who lost their jobs through no fault of their own. We will not be able to reverse overnight two years of recession and a decade of declining economic security for the middle class.  However, today’s numbers show that the economy is headed in the right direction and our policies are continuing to help create jobs.  We must not let up in our resolve to fight for our working, middle-class families and our small businesses.”

 # # #