Standing in the White House Rose Garden just ahead of Labor Day weekend, President Joe Biden touted the economy under his leadership as the August jobs report released Friday showed 187,000 jobs added over the month.
“Take a step back and take note of the fact that America is now in one of the strongest job creating periods in our history,” Biden said, declaring it “no accident” and delivering a dig at the previous occupant of the Oval Office, former President Donlad Trump.
“My predecessor was one of only two presidents in history, who entered his presidency and left with fewer jobs than when he entered,” the president said.
What You Need To Know
- The nation’s employers added a solid 187,000 jobs in August in a sign of a still-resilient labor market despite the high interest rates the Federal Reserve has imposed
- Biden touted the report and his economic leadership at the White House on Friday, just ahead of the labor day weekend
- The unemployment rate rose from 3.5% to 3.8%, the highest level since February 2022 though still low by historical standards
- A decelerating job market could help shift the economy into a slower gear and reassure the Federal Reserve that inflation will continue to decelerate
The 187,000 jobs added was an increase from the revised 157,000 jobs gained in July, but still marks a slowdown from the past 12 months in which the nation averaged an addition of 271,000 a month, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The report showed the unemployment rate, although still historically low, at its highest level since February 2022 – rising from 3.5% in July to 3.8% last month.
“The biggest takeaway” from Friday’s report, acting Labor Secretary Julie Su told Spectrum News, “is that we are in a period of strong and steady growth, transitioning from that breakneck speed of the recovery we saw about two years ago, we are now seeing a continued job growth, continued return to the labor force, but also continued record low levels of unemployment.
“It’s been under 4% now for the longest stretch since the 1960s,” Su added. “This is all consistent with a strong economy and continued growth.”
A decelerating job market could help shift the economy into a slower gear and reassure the Fed that inflation will continue to decelerate. The Fed’s streak of 11 interest rate hikes have helped slow inflation from a peak of 9.1% last year to 3.2% now. It will decide whether or not to raise rates again at a meeting later in September.
“I came to office determined to build the economy in a different way,” Biden said on Friday.
The president continued to highlight his economic agenda, pushed by the White House as “Bidenomics,” reiterating it is about building the economy “from the middle out and the bottom up.”
Biden and top administration officials have been traveling the country trying to sell the American public on that premise – and convince people, under Biden’s watch, it is making their lives better.
But polls show Americans are skeptical. An Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll released earlier this month showed just 36% of U.S. adults approved of Biden’s handling of the economy.
The economy, though growing more slowly than it did in the boom that followed the pandemic recession of 2020, has defied the squeeze of increasingly high borrowing costs. The gross domestic product — the economy’s total output of goods and services — rose at a respectable 2.1% annual rate from April to June. Consumers continued to spend, and businesses increased their investments.
“This is not hyperbole: when the middle class does well, everyone does well. Everyone does well. The wealthy do very well. The poor have a shot and the middle class can make a living,” Biden said on Friday.
He pointed to actions his administration took this week such as proposing a rule to make more U.S. workers eligible for overtime pay.
Su credited Biden’s economic agenda with the robust jobs growth in the country, which she noted is “just getting started,” pointing to investments from his infrastructure law and other legislative accomplishments.
“There should be continued growth as we fix roads and repair bridges, and ensure high-speed internet in every home and clean drinking water out of every faucet,” Su said. “Those things are also going to continue to create good jobs and continue to feed what we call ‘Bidenomics,’ a strong economic policy, in which no one gets left out.
Friday’s jobs report noted the health care, leisure and hospitality, social assistance, and construction industries all saw growth while the transportation and warehousing industries trended down.
The shutdown of the big trucking firm Yellow and the strike by Hollywood actors and writers are thought to have kept a lid on August job growth.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.