WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senator Rick Scott released the below statement following the announcement that the U.S. economy created only 266,000 jobs in April, well below the anticipated million-jobs increase, and unemployment rose for the first time since April 2020. This comes as the level of Americans receiving unemployment benefits remains elevated and businesses across the nation are still struggling to hire enough workers.

This news follows Senator Scott’s letter this week to Larry Turner, Acting Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Labor, urging him to provide answers on what the Department is doing to prevent, detect and address fraud, waste and abuse of federal unemployment benefits, which were enhanced through the CARES Act. Last week, Senator Scott asked Department of Labor Secretary Marty Walsh for information on the Department’s plans to combat fraud and abuse of enhanced federal unemployment benefits and get Americans back to work.

Senator Rick Scott said, “Since the beginning of the pandemic, I have supported the effort to get targeted aid to struggling families and businesses, but I have been clear that the federal government cannot be paying Americans more to stay home than go back to their jobs. I fought to include a provision in the CARES Act to ensure we weren’t creating a disincentive to return to work, but the Democrats blocked it. Now we are seeing the consequences. I’ve spoken to countless businesses in Florida and across the nation that have reopened but are struggling to find enough workers. We cannot ignore their voices.”

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