(GREENSBORO) -- U.S. Senator Kay R. Hagan (D-NC) released the following statement after employment statistics showed that no new jobs were created in August and the national unemployment rate remained at 9.1 percent.

"If the last several months of weak economic numbers have failed to get Washington's attention, today's abysmal jobs report absolutely should," said Hagan. "The political game-playing must stop and both parties simply must come together to create effective, bipartisan solutions to our ongoing jobs crisis. The status quo is unacceptable.

"In North Carolina, the unemployment rate is now above 10 percent. This means real and continuing hardship for families and communities, and Washington, resting comfortably in an economic bubble, needs to wake up. Outside of Washington, the American people are struggling, and the time for us to take action is now."

Stocks are taking a negative turn amid the job stats that, for the first time since 1945, reported no new net jobs. Economists say the U.S. economy is not improving as quickly as they would like, and the report is a fearful signal to investors, already worried that the U.S. economy is at risk of slipping into another recession.