House Republican Office October 26, 2012 For more information: Jay Finegan, 287-1445 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Strong jobs report shows GOPs pro-growth policies are working AUGUSTA Maine employers added some 7,400 private sector jobs between June 2011 a nd June 2012, with the employment growth spread across a wide range of business sectors, including health care, leisure and hospitality, education, professional services and construction. The strong employment report was detailed yesterday by Glenn Mills, chief econom ist at the Center for Workforce Research at the Maine Department of Labor. In a presentation to the Consensus Economic Forecasting Commission, Mills said M aines unemployment rate in September would have been 5.5 percent if Maines labor f orce participation rate were as low as the national average. He added that if the U.S. labor force participation rate matched Maines, the national unemployment rat e in September would have been 9.8 percent. Mills said his figures are based on payroll jobs reported through quarterly unem ployment insurance filings. Employers must pay unemployment insurance for all of their workers. He said the numbers are subject to possible revision, but added, There appears to be an upward trend in job growth. This is very welcome news, said Rep. Andre Cushing (R-Hampden), assistant leader o f the House Republicans. This employment growth appears to coincide with strong p ro-growth policies put in place by Republican leadership in the 125th Legislatur e. The real credit goes to Maines hardworking business leaders, who have persevered t hrough these tough economic times, Rep. Cushing added. However, things like regula tory reform and tax reduction have given employers more confidence that Maines go vernment is a business advocate instead of an adversary. State Rep. Amy Volk said the positive report is great news for Maine. Its particul arly good news for all the folks who now have work, said Rep. Volk (R-Scarborough ), who serves on the Labor, Commerce, Research and Economic Development Committe e LCRED). Government cant create private sector jobs, but it can create the kind o f pro-business environment that leads to more jobs. Maine voters told us in 2010 that they wanted us to focus on jobs and the economy, and we took up that assig nment with a large number of bills to improve our business climate. Were already moving up in national rankings of the best states for business. State Rep. Mel Newendyke, another member of the LCRED Committee, noted that Main e was in the doldrums when the 125th Legislature took office. According to forme r State Economist Charles Colgan, now at the University of Southern Maine, the s tate created only 56 net new jobs in the decade ending in 2010. What we inherited was a rather stagnant economy, said Rep. Newendyke (R-Litchfield ). Starting with LD 1 regulatory reform it was clear that the new Legislature was serious about improving the states economy. We passed a great deal of pro-busine ss legislation, on numerous fronts, to get the economy moving again. Now it look s like those new policies are making a big difference.