RALEIGH, North Carolina, July 3 -- The North Carolina Democratic Party issued the following statement by Chairman Wayne Goodwin in response to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' report that the U.S. unemployment rate remains above 11 percent:

"Working North Carolinians continue to bear the brunt of this administration's failures. Last week, more than 1.43 million Americans applied for jobless benefits and our national unemployment rate remains above 11 percent.