Washington, DC – Rep. Watson was encouraged by today’s positive gross domestic product (GDP) numbers, which showed the largest swing to positive economic growth in 29 years, after four quarters of decline. While optimistic about this important economic indicator, Rep. Watson said that the unemployment rate remains a top concern.

“These GDP numbers show that we are making significant strides towards recovery.” said Rep Watson. “Economic growth is the first step to job creation. This economic crisis won’t be over until the millions of Americans who lost their jobs are able to find work and get back on their feet. Congress will continue working to make sure that the economy creates new jobs as it starts to move toward recovery.”

Today’s numbers show that the economy grew at 3.5% last quarter – tremendous progress compared with six months ago, when the output of the economy shrank at 6.4%. Economists partly attribute this improvement to the success of the Recovery Act and programs like Cash for Clunkers.

“Slowly, our economy is growing and showing important progress in part due to the Recovery Act,” said Rep. Watson. “But we inherited the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression after eight years of economic mismanagement and irresponsible spending by President Bush and Republicans in Congress, and these problems will not be fixed overnight.”