The U.S. economy added more jobs during President Joe Biden’s tenure than in a single term under any of his predecessors, according to data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“Today is a good day for the American economy and for American workers. “We learned this morning that the economy added 339,000 jobs last month,” Biden said in a statement. “Since I took office, we have now created more than 13 million jobs. That’s more jobs in 28 months than any president has created in an entire four-year term.”
In May 2023, the unemployment rate increased by 0.3 percentage points to 3.7%. The unemployment rate has been below 4.0% since February 2022. The data from the previous months showed further positive labor market news: A total of 217,000 new jobs were created in March (52,000 more than initially reported) and 294,000 jobs (+93,000) in April.
The Labor Department previously reported that 12.7 million jobs had been added since Biden took office in January 2021. With the May report and the revisions to the March and April data, the total is now over 13.1 million jobs.
Only under Bill Clinton were more jobs created during his presidency, but this happened during his two terms, from 1993 to 2001. During Clinton’s first term, about 12.2 million jobs were added, during his second 11.3 million. The second highest number of jobs was 10.7 million, created during former President Ronald Reagan’s second term in office from 1985 to 1989.
Biden’s immediate predecessor, former President Donald Trump, is the only modern president to leave office with a record of job losses; He holds the worst job record in US history. Over 3 million jobs were lost during his only tenure, which spanned the early years of the COVID-19 pandemic. When Trump left office in January 2021, the unemployment rate was 6.3%.
The jobless report follows the Senate’s successful passage of federal debt ceiling suspension legislation on June 1, allowing the U.S. government to borrow to pay off its existing debt and avoid triggering a default, which experts say is wreaking havoc could have on the US and world economies. Biden said he will sign the law into law as soon as possible.
The debt ceiling suspension bill, the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, includes concessions to Republican lawmakers that include the addition of work requirements for those receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SN`) assistance, but does not cut funding of major passed legislation under Biden.
Protecting and creating jobs have been integral parts of the bills Biden signed into law as President: America’s bailout plan was designed to protect and boost the economy in response to the COVID-19 pandemic; The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is used to fund construction projects, along with federal policies that give priority to union-preferred employment contracts. The CHIPS and Science Act offers companies tax incentives to produce and manufacture in the United States. and the Inflation Reduction Act provides funding for jobs involved in clean energy projects in the United States.
Published with permission from the American Independent Foundation.
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