Edwards Statement On Record August Job Loss

Chapel Hill, North Carolina – In response to today's Labor Department report that employers cut payrolls in August for the first time in four years, Sen. John Edwards released the following statement:

"Today's jobs report is a troubling sign that problems in the credit markets are spilling over into the rest of the economy. The number of jobs fell for the first time in four years, and the unemployment rate would be rising if hundreds of thousands of people hadn't giving up looking.

"George Bush's economic policies -- which have relied on regressive tax policies and a housing bubble -- are failing. It's time for Washington to look past the needs of the special interests and put working families and the middle class first on the agenda. The best way to create new jobs is to rebuild America: true universal health care, new jobs in renewable energy, modernizing our infrastructure, and an end to our failed trade policies."