President Joe Biden praised news that the number of new applications for unemployment benefits reached its lowest point since 1968, noting that claims are down 95% since he took office.
The number of new applications for unemployment benefits dropped by 11,000 last week to 200,000, keeping with the trend of low weekly jobless claims in recent months.
JOBLESS CLAIMS FALL TO 200,000, NEAR LOWEST LEVEL IN DECADES
“Today we received more data that, despite the global challenges we face, America is on the move,” Biden said in a prepared statement. “Unemployment benefits have reached historic lows. Since I took office, the number of Americans relying on unemployment benefits is now down 95%, and our economy has added 8.3 million jobs.”
The level of weekly jobless claims, reported Thursday by the Department of Labor, indicates that layoffs are extremely rare as employers try to hold on to workers.
Biden described the news as part of a wider transition from recovery to steady economic growth, pointing to manufacturing jobs growth in particular as trending upward.
“During my first year in office, the U.S. economy created more manufacturing jobs on average per month than any other president in the last 50 years,” he said. “Two new announcements today will add to that historic manufacturing boom. Ford’s $3.7 billion investment to create more than 6,000 good-paying, union jobs in Michigan, Ohio, and Missouri building new electric vehicles is great news for American workers.”
The president has promoted manufacturing jobs throughout his first term, in part to stay in the good graces of Midwestern voters.
While high inflation is still on the minds of many people and interest rates are beginning to creep up to match, the Biden administration has continued promoting positive economic news such as the low unemployment rate. But a volatile stock market and first-quarter economic contraction have sparked recession fears that White House economists haven’t ruled out.
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“This isn’t an accident — it’s the result of my economic plan to grow the economy from the bottom up and middle out,” Biden said. “My Bipartisan Infrastructure Law was a major step forward in making America a place where businesses invest and good jobs grow, including our national electric vehicle charging infrastructure and battery supply chain.”
His statement finished by urging Congress to pass a pair of bills the White House has dubbed the Bipartisan Innovation Act.
