Hinchey chairs joint economic committee hearing on employment

WASHINGTON – More needs to be done to curb rising unemployment, the Joint Economic Committee of Congress said Friday.

Congressman Maurice Hinchey of Hurley chaired the hearing. He said afterwards that the national unemployment rate has risen from five percent to 5.5 percent in one month, and he said the loss of jobs is impacting the Gross Domestic Product.

“That Gross Domestic Product, at least two-thirds of it, is driven by spending of median income people, blue and white collar working people,” he said. “All of this has to get more attention than it has been getting through the administration and the agencies of this administration that have the responsibility to address these issues.”

The economy has lost 260,000 jobs in the first four months of this year.