On Friday, September 07, 2012, the Labor Department released an economic report showing that U.S. employers added less than the expected 96,000 jobs in August. Additionally, the department stated that the unemployment rate went from 8.3% to 8.1% due to 368,000 people simply dropping out of the labor force last month and not even looking for a job. Representative DesJarlais issued the following statement:

“If only the answer to our jobs crisis was soaring rhetoric and well delivered speeches, this nation would be ushering in a new era of prosperity and not 43 consecutive months of unemployment above eight percent. Unfortunately for the president, the solutions to fixing our economy aren’t located on a teleprompter. Rather, the path to a brighter future will be paved by American entrepreneurs and small business owners across our country. Yet this administration continues to put up roadblocks to their success in the form of more regulation, more spending and more government. The results of these actions speak for themselves.

“We know that in order to get our country back on track, it is going to require some very tough decisions and bold leadership. The president’s excuses and fear-mongering might make for good politics, but it sure isn’t going to help Tennesseans get back to work.

“We have a choice we must make: do we want big government or a big economy? President Obama’s path of putting politics before people and the government before jobs means that we will only continue to see these types of dismal jobs reports.”