On the recordMarch 10, 2010
I rise this afternoon to talk about the recession, unemployment, job loss--all of those related topics--and in a very particular way to focus on the trauma, the suffering that a lot of Pennsylvanians and a lot of Americans are living through right now. This has been and continues to be a horrific recession for the American people. When we are confronted with that kind of economic difficulty, we need to respond to it in very bold ways. I think we have over the last couple of years and even the last couple of weeks. I will talk about that today. But we do need bold action to put people back to work and to keep our economy moving in the right direction, as I think it is now, more than a year after the recovery bill was enacted. In Pennsylvania, the unemployment situation is as follows: Our rate is at about 8.8 percent as of January. That is lower than a number of States of comparable size. But, unfortunately, the rate doesn't tell us much. It doesn't often reflect the true meaning or the true impact of unemployment. We have 560,000 people in Pennsylvania out of work through no fault of their own.
