[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 709]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       UNDERSTANDING THE ECONOMY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Maloney) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Speaker, the Joint Economic Committee, which I 
chair, has just released a report entitled ``Understanding the Economy, 
State by State.'' The report provides quick and easy access to the 
major economic indicators for all 50 States in the areas of jobs, 
unemployment, personal earnings, and housing. It paints a by-the-
numbers picture of the current economic reality in each of our 50 
States. Every picture tells a story that is at once both informative 
and sobering.
  The report captures the enormity of the economic damage caused by the 
Great Recession that began in December of 2007, while making clear that 
the United States economy has improved and begun to grow since the Bush 
administration left office. And this shows that the last month the Bush 
administration was in office this country lost over 750,000 jobs. 
Nationally, there has been a substantial decrease in the rate of job 
losses. The economy started losing jobs in January of 2008, increasing 
at a rapid rate throughout the year. The average quarterly job loss has 
now declined from a staggering 691,000 jobs lost per month in the first 
quarter of 2009 to 69,000 jobs in the most recent quarter, yet even 
that number is unacceptable.
  And as you delve into the report, it provides a more localized and 
precise picture for each State. A chart like this is available for all 
50 States. This chart, for example, is for my home State of New York. 
It shows at a glance the monthly change in private payrolls from 
January of 2008 to December of 2009. You can see that the unemployment 
rate in New York was 9 percent in December of 2009. That's up 4.4 
percentage points from December of 2007. It has been a bumpy road, but 
you can see clearly that the trend is now in the right direction.
  A scatter chart is also included in the report, and for New York 
State it reveals at a glance that the unemployment rate is below the 
national rate, and that total job losses have been smaller than U.S. 
averages. The economies of the States vary enormously. New York's 
economy depends heavily on information technology and financial 
services. Some States that are more dependent on construction and 
manufacturing have been hit much harder by job losses.
  An economic overview and outlook accompanies each State chart. The 
one for New York provides an estimate from the President's Council of 
Economic Advisers that employment in New York was boosted by a total of 
141,000 jobs through the fourth quarter of 2009 by the investments we 
made through the Recovery Act. It also shows that real per capita 
personal income in New York was 43,000 in the third quarter of 2009, 
down from 45,000 in the third quarter of 2007.
  There is also useful information on housing for each State, and it 
too varies enormously. For instance, the median price for single family 
homes in New York was $290,000 in 2008, compared to $250,000 
nationwide. And in New York in November, housing starts increased by 52 
percent over October to a total of 18,000 units at a seasonally 
adjusted annual rate.
  You can review the report online at www.jec.senate.gov. The majority 
staff will continue to update the data throughout the year in order to 
track the progress our economy will be making month by month. But from 
this first edition, it is abundantly clear why this Congress is so 
focused on job growth. Americans are demanding, and rightly so, that we 
must do all we can to grow the economy and help create new private 
sector jobs. The hard facts and real-life consequences of the economic 
policies of the prior administration don't make for a very pretty 
picture right now.
  Mr. Speaker, stay tuned. The American spirit of innovation is on the 
way and individual resilience are ready and raring to go.

                          ____________________