The president said the economy badly needs Congress to pass his legislative agenda and pointed out that jobs have been created every month of his administration.
President Joe Biden is defending a disappointing August jobs report, arguing that the economy badly needs Congress to pass his legislative agenda and pointing out that jobs have been created every month of his administration. “I know some wanted to see a larger number today, and so did I,” Biden told reporters at the White House Friday. “But what we’ve seen this year is continued growth, month after month, in job creation.” Biden was referring to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ August report, which showed that only 235,000 jobs were added last month, far fewer than the 728,000 economists had predicted. It’s the lowest monthly growth in jobs since Biden took office in January. The president argued that the slowed growth is partly due to the coronavirus surges brought on by the highly contagious Delta variant and noted that unemployment still declined. The nation’s jobless figure fell to 5.2 percent from July’s 5.4 percent. “Today’s report shows that the steps we’ve taken—passing the rescue plan and vaccinating 175 million people—made our economy capable of growing and adding jobs, even in the face of this continuing Delta surge,” he said. Biden also took a jab at former President Donald Trump, who often used the stock market as a predictor of the nation’s economic health and frequently tweeted about new records.
