PORTLAND -- State Senate leaders traded jabs Monday after the release of September’s unemployment numbers.

Unemployment dropped slightly last month, one-tenth of a percentage point, down to 6.4 percent. Some 7,300 Oregonians lost their jobs in September, according to state figures.

 More: Oregon's unemployment rate drops slightly

Senate President Peter Courtney said the latest numbers indicated it was time for the Legislature to focus on job creation, particularly construction and infrastructure projects.

He said the next legislative session should be called “the Jobs Session.”

Courtney, a Democrat, suggested that $1.6 billion in new projects, paid for by bonds, would create approximately 27,000 new jobs.

“We have significant infrastructure needs in our state and we have Oregonians who need jobs,” Courtney said. “A public works program we can address both problems while making a lasting investment in the future of our state.”

But Senate Republicans were not enthusiastic about the proposals and instead advocated a tax relief package for working families.

Senate Minority Leader Ted Ferrioli said Monday that cumulative tax relief could create as many as 20,000 new jobs in Oregon.

Republicans suggested that eliminating 20 percent of new spending authorized in the last legislative session, coupled with raise freezes for state managers, CEOs and Gov. Ted Kulongoski, would help save money in a time of economic hardship.

“President Courtney’s proposal amounts to pulling out the state credit card and creating $1 billion in new earmark spending despite declining revenues and looming deficits,” Ferrioli said. “Oregon families juggling the economic crisis will not take kindly to the taxman asking for more of their hard earned paycheck.”

State lawmakers reconvene in regular session early next year.