Brooklyn, N.Y. – Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke released the following statement after the U.S Department of Labor released the jobs report for the month of February, which indicated that our economy added more 175,000 jobs.

“For four years – forty-eight months – the number of jobs has increased. In total, 8.7 million private sector jobs have been created as the United States continues its recovery from the Great Recession,” said Congresswoman Clarke. “I commend President Obama for his leadership on the economy, which includes his appointment of Janet Yellen as Chairwoman of the Federal Serve, a native of Brooklyn who understands that the government has a responsibility to reduce unemployment even as we maintain low rates of inflation.”

Congresswoman Clarke continued: “But I believe we have the ability to achieve much more in this economy. There remain millions of men and women who want to work but cannot find jobs. In his 2015 budget, President Obama introduced a series of programs that would create jobs by investing in roads and bridges and school buildings, developing the manufacture of products in the United States by American workers, and immigration reform of that will allow our economy to support the ambitions of the millions of American living here without legal status. I urge my colleagues in Congress – Republicans and Democrats – to negotiate with President Obama in good faith for the benefit of the people we represent.”

U.S. Representative Yvette D. Clarke is a member of the House Committee on Small Business, Ethics, and Homeland Security, where she is the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Security Technologies. She represents many neighborhoods in central and southern Brooklyn, NY which include Brownsville, Crown Heights, East Flatbush, Flatbush, Gerritsen Beach, Madison, Midwood, parts of Park Slope and Flatlands, Prospect Heights, Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, Sheepshead Bay, and Windsor Terrace.