[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 11337]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           BEST-CASE SCENARIO

  (Ms. FOXX asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, numbers don't lie, but viewed in isolation, 
they can obscure the truth.
  Last week offered some encouraging news: 288,000 new jobs and an 
unemployment rate, by one measure, of 6.1 percent, which is the lowest 
rate achieved during Mr. Obama's administration.
  There is tremendous human cost associated with half a decade of 
unemployment above--often, well above--6 percent, but this is an 
improvement. Our celebration, though, should be tempered by the truths 
obscured by this statistic.
  The truth is: more than 92 million adults above age 16 are not in the 
labor force.
  The truth is: if the labor force were at pre-recession levels, the 
unemployment rate would be 11.1 percent.
  The truth is: the labor force participation rate has not been this 
low since 1978.
  Mr. Speaker, some predicted President Obama would be the second 
coming of Jimmy Carter. Nearly 6 years in, that is looking like a best-
case scenario.

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