[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 34 (Wednesday, March 10, 2010)]
[House]
[Page H1226]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  RECOVERING FROM THE GREAT RECESSION

  (Mrs. MALONEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Speaker, this chart is a quick way to assess the 
direction things have been going in our efforts to recover from the 
Great Recession. While it is not success, it is definitely progress. It 
shows the monthly change in nonfarm payrolls over the past 2 years.
  Point A on this chart is when the Great Recession and the job losses 
began in December of 2007. Back then, we were assured the fundamentals 
of the economy were sound. For over a year, the economy went straight 
downhill and shed jobs at an increasing rate, with no change in 
direction.
  The last month that the former President was in office, President 
Bush, we lost over 700,000 jobs. Point C represents the jobs report 
from the last 2 months, clearly a dramatic improvement from 1 year 
ago--in fact, a 96 percent improvement, from over 750,000 jobs lost to 
35,000 jobs; again, progress in the right direction.
  In addition to this general trend, I would like to point out that the 
temporary help sector continues to improve. More than 40,000 workers 
have been added to the temporary help sector, a clear indication of 
improvement in the job market.
  We still have a distance to go before we get every American back to 
work, but as this chart clearly shows, we are slowly and steadily 
moving in the right direction. Again, this is progress.

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