KENNEDY ON JOB LOSSES

Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Chairman of the Committee on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, issued the following statement in response to today's jobs numbers showing that 80,000 more jobs were eliminated in March, for a total of 232,000 jobs lost this year. The unemployment rate is now up to 5.1%, the highest it has been since 2005. "These large job losses are no surprise to the vast numbers of families who are suffering. For countless hard-working Americans, a pink slip is not just part of the business cycle. It’s a life-changing calamity that can leave a family in shambles. Wall Street is now receiving tens of billions of dollars in bailouts, but Main Street is left to suffer through this crisis alone. We must immediately grant extended unemployment benefits to help them make it through these difficult times." ###