Republican leaders slammed President Joe Biden after December’s jobs report released Friday reported numbers well below economists’ projections, highlighting the report as another example of how the president mishandled the post-pandemic recovery.
The U.S. economy added only 199,000 jobs in December while unemployment dipped to 3.9%, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) announced Friday. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal projected that the economy would add 422,000 jobs in December and that unemployment to fall to 4.1%.
“Our economy should be soaring right now, but the policies of this administration continue to stifle growth and hold back American businesses and workers,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said in a statement.
“Today’s jobs report is another massive miss, falling two hundred thousand jobs short of expectations. The labor participation rate should be climbing; instead the world’s greatest economy is being smothered by Washington Democrats’ government overreach and mandates,” McCarthy said.
“In less than 12 months, the Biden administration has sabotaged what should have been a V-shaped recovery,” McCarthy said, pledging that House Republicans will continue to support policies to drive the economy back to pre-pandemic levels.
“The percentage of Americans working remains historically low, and today’s jobs report fell well below expectations,” Ranking Member of the Select Committee on the Economy Bryan Steil told the DCNF. “We must focus on getting workers back to work, and promote policies that return us to the historic economy we saw prior to the pandemic.”
“President Biden will continue to tout this ‘economic recovery’ while simultaneously seeing sluggish labor force participation with 199,000 jobs added last month,” Republican Florida Rep. Kat Cammack told the DCNF.
“President Biden promised to crush COVID and speed up our recovery, but his policies have done the exact opposite, leading to the worst jobs report of his lackluster presidency,” Cammack said.
Meanwhile, a record 4.1 million Americans quit their jobs in November 2021 while job openings decreased to 10.6 million as workers seek employment with better wages and benefits, the BLS announced Tuesday.
“The Biden Jobs Deficit—the difference between jobs created and those he promised to create as part of his so-called stimulus from March—has metastasized to 1.1 million,” House Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Kevin Brady said in a statement. “One thing is certain: His $5 trillion tax hikes and spending spree would make the economy worse by rising prices, killing jobs, and slowing economic growth.”
Stephen Moore, an economic adviser to former President Donald Trump, called Friday’s job report another example of the “disappearing American worker,” highlighting the massive job openings figures in a statement to the DCNF.
While wages increased between 4.6% to 4.7% over the last year, the jump is not enough to keep up with the surging inflation the country is experiencing, Moore said.
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