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Office
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News Release
Contact: Robin Maxey February 26, 2009
(503) 986-1605
robin.maxey@state.or.us
Courtney
Comments on Rising Unemployment,
Increasing
Demands for State Services
Statement
by Senate President Peter Courtney
“Numbers like 9.9 percent unemployment, 535,000 Oregonians on food stamps and 22,000 families on assistance serve as evidence that this recession has touched almost everyone – if not directly then through our families, our friends or our neighbors. We are all in this together and we should be mindful that Americans and Oregonians have always overcome adversity by rallying together and helping one another.
“We will come through this unprecedented economic storm if we follow in that tradition and labor together to seek shared solutions – whether it’s the work we do here in the Legislature or in our communities across this great state.”
Note to
editors: The Department of Human Services reported yesterday that the number of
Oregon families receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families has risen 18.9
percent in the last year and that the number of Oregonians on food stamps is up
17 percent in that same period. Today the Oregon Employment Department announced
the statewide unemployment had reached 9.9 percent with more than 214,000
Oregonians currently unemployed.