HARTFORD— U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) released the following statement today on the February jobs report.  According to the Labor Department, the economy added 236,000 jobs in February and the unemployment rate fell to 7.7 percent, the lowest since 2008:

Today’s employment report gives us some encouraging news – our economy is adding jobs and the unemployment rate is inching down. But despite the good news, we still have a long way to go to put people back to work in Connecticut and across the country. To strengthen the economy, the wealthiest need to pay their fair share, and tax loopholes that shortchange everyday Americans need to be closed. We also must cut spending in a thoughtful way – something the sequester doesn’t do.

I’ll be fighting for common-sense job growth and more economic sanity in Congress, and I hope my colleagues will do the same.