85,000 jobs lost in December

This isn’t good news about the economy to start of 2010.

Employers nationwide in December shed an additional 85,000 jobs, and experts say more people without jobs are giving up looking for employment.

“This past December, the economy lost 85,000 jobs, and the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 10 percent,” U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis said in a statement. “Today’s numbers underscore that we still have work to do before we can be sure that all Americans have access to good jobs. We are working aggressively to reverse these conditions for American workers and their families.

“Despite the bumpy road to recovery, we have made progress,” Solis added, crediting the stimulus package for helping the economy.

But U.S. Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., says deficit spending must go, if there is to be a recovery.

“The hard truth is that 10 percent percent of our workforce cannot find a job and even more Americans have simply given up their search,” Price said in a news release.

“There’s a simple way to invigorate the economy and enable robust growth. It starts by halting this job-killing agenda of reckless deficit spending, higher taxes, and expansion of government power,” Price added. “With greater freedom to create, innovate, and enjoy the fruits of their own labor, the American people will lead the way toward a brighter future.”