NLC reacts to most recent unemployment numbers

The latest unemployment numbers released Friday by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics show a drop in government employment, related primarily to the loss of 114,000 temporary jobs created to help with the 2010 Census. Overall, the dismal numbers — nearly 15 million unemployed and 10.5 million underemployed — show that “the consequences of the worst recession since the Great Depression are still being felt throughout the nation,” according to the Washington-based National League of Cities (NLC) President Ronald Loveridge.

Loveridge, mayor of Riverside, Calif., called for a strong federal response to stimulate job growth. “City and town leaders from across America are doing what they can to provide fundamental services to workers and their families through this crisis. However, city and town leaders are confronting their own budget challenges,” Loveridge said in a statement. “They are being forced to reduce fundamental services and eliminate jobs. By most accounts, the job losses at the local level act as a drag on the national economy. Without federal action, this will likely continue for the next 18 months.”

Loveridge goes on to call on Congress and the Obama administration to set aside partisan and ideological differences and focus on putting Americans back to work. Read NLC’s full statement and the Labor Department report.