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“ECONOMIC SECURITY AND RECOVERY ACT OF 2001” mentioning the U.S. Dept of Labor was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E329 on March 13, 2002.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
ECONOMIC SECURITY AND RECOVERY ACT OF 2001
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speech of
HON. MARK UDALL
of colorado
in the house of representatives
Thursday, March 7, 2002
Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, I will support this measure.
The bill before us responds to the urgent needs of hundreds of thousands of people who are out of work and whose unemployment benefits have been or soon will be exhausted. It also provides important provisions that can help speed up the recovery from recession and create jobs.
My only regret is that it has taken so long for us to take up this kind of bill. If we had done so sooner, fewer people would have reached the end of their benefits and the economic recovery might by moving at a faster rate. So, I hope that the fact the bill must go back to the Senate will not lead to further unnecessary delays.
To show why prompt action is essential, I am attaching a story from this morning's Rocky Mountain News. It reports that Colorado's unemployment rate recently surpassed the national rate for the first time in more than a decade.
We also have a high concentration of high-tech employment--and many provisions of this bill are particularly important for high-tech firms, which is another reason I support it.
Jobless Picture Bleak
(By Heather Draper)
Colorado's unemployment rate hit 5.7 percent in January, its highest level since 1993 and surpassing the national jobless rate for the first time in nearly 12 years.
The U.S. employment rate in January was 5.6 percent.
The state's increase from 5.1 percent in December was the second-highest jump in the nation behind New Mexico, which recorded a 0.9-point rise from December, the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday.
Colorado's 3-percentage-point increase from its historic low of 2.7 percent in January 2001 was also the nation's second-largest year-over-year increase, behind Oregon's 3.1-point jump.
``It's definitely of concern,'' said Patty Silverstein, economist with Development Research Partners. ``We haven't seen levels like this since the early 1990s. You can't really sugarcoat this.''
The state's 5.7 percent seasonally adjusted jobless rate translated to about 135,000 Coloradans out of work in January.
The city and county of Denver's non-seasonally adjusted unemployment rate hit a whopping 7.4 percent in January, up from 6.1 percent in December and 3.4 percent in January last year, according to the state Labor Department.
About 69,000 metro Denver residents were unemployed in January, 21,200 of those in Denver County alone.
`The last time Colorado's jobless rate was higher than the national rate was March 1990,' said Tom Dunn, chief economist for the state legislative council. ``We have a higher concentration of high-tech employment here and a lot of travel-related jobs, so Colorado has been hit harder. And I think, Sept. 11 introduced a whole new wrinkle (in the economy).''
Dunn said the recession hit Colorado later than the rest of the nation, so the state will start to recover later.
Economists were surprised by the size of the state's increase, as most were predicting unemployment of about 5.5 percent in January.
``All bets are off now,'' Silverstein said. ``It's hard to say how much higher we might possibly go. The bottom line is that we aren't out of the woods yet.''
The unemployment rate is a lagging economic indicator, but
``that is still a huge jump,'' said Tucker Hart Adams, economist with US Bank
``The recession may be officially over, but I think that's kind of irrelevant,'' Adams said. ``The layoffs continue and housing is getting worse. I just don't see any signs of strength locally.''
At least one economist was a bit more bullish on the state's economic outlook. ``I think the good news is that the U.S. economy has bottomed out,'' said Sung Won Sohn, Chief economist at Wells Fargo & Co. ``Since Colorado's economy depends so much on the U.S. economy, we have to view the U.S. economic outlook as the light at the end of the tunnel.''
Job losses were greatest in Colorado's trade sector, with 16,000 fewer jobs in January 2002 than December 2001. Government jobs were down 12,200, and service industry jobs were down 11,400, the labor department said. The only sector to see an overall gain in January was the finance, insurance and real estate sector, which was up 1,100 jobs.
Pueblo had one of the state's highest unemployment rates in January at 8.2 percent, up from 6.5 percent in December 2001 and 4.7 percent in January 2001. Colorado Springs hit 6.8 percent unemployment in January, up from 5.6 percent in December and 3.2 percent a year ago.
The Boulder-Longmont area registered 5.7 percent unemployment in January, up from 4.7 percent in December and more than double its 2.4 percent rate a year ago.
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