President Biden on Friday hailed new report from the Labor Department (DOL) showing the economy added 517,000 jobs in January, far exceeding economists´ expectations, who expected a surge of about 185,000.
Of course, the US president was quick to link the positive figure to his state of the Union address on February 7.
“Next week, I will be reporting on the State of the Union. But today, I´m happy to report that the state of the union and the state of our economy are strong,” Joe Biden said at the beginning of prepared remarks from the White House.
Biden noted the unemployment rate was at its lowest point in 54 years, and that job growth since he took office was the strongest two-year period in history. The president took office when unemployment had surged during the Covid-19 pandemic, and he oversaw the period where many of those jobs wiped out by the virus returned. Wage growth, while still well above pre-pandemic levels, has now slowed to its lowest annual rate since July 2021. Lower wage growth coupled with stellar job gains and low unemployment is a strong sign for the Federal Reserve as it attempts to quash inflation while avoiding a recession.
The price of gas, food and other goods has come down from its peak last summer, Biden argued, and wage growth has increased without accelerating too rapidly.
“Put simply, I would argue the Biden economic plan is working. For the past two years, we’ve heard a chorus of critics write off my economic plan,” he said. “Today’s data makes crystal clear what I’ve always known in my gut. These critics and cynics are wrong. While we may face setbacks along the way … our plan is working because of the grit and resolve of the American worker.”
Even some Democrats began to openly question whether Biden was the right person to lead the Blue party in 2024.
Nevertheless, Republicans -currently the majority in the House – will put more than one stone in Biden’s path.
In addition, Republicans vowed to win the Lower House in past November (as it happened), to open several investigations against Joe Biden, especially for his son Hunter’s business dealings with Ukraine and other countries.
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