President Joe Biden’s $2.25 trillion infrastructure package would create about 2.7 million jobs, a fraction of the more than 19 million touted by some West Wing officials — including the chief executive himself.
Asked about that discrepancy, White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Tuesday cited a report by Moody’s Analytics, a Wall Street firm, that estimated that Biden’s American Jobs Plan would create 3 million jobs over a decade if passed as is by both chambers of Congress and signed into law.
“So that is what the impact would be of the American Jobs Plan, 2.7 million, to be totally clear,” Psaki said Monday. “We see that as a positive, but we also will be very clear and articulate exactly what numbers of jobs it will create.”
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During media appearances over the weekend, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and National Economic Council Director Brian Deese said Biden’s American Jobs Plan would “create” 19 million jobs.
Biden also made a similar claim days earlier while announcing his proposal, citing “Wall Street outfits” who he said predict the plan would create about 18 million jobs over four years.
“Altogether, along with the American Rescue Plan, the proposal I put forward will create millions of jobs, estimated by some Wall Street outfits — over 18 million jobs over four years, good-paying jobs,” Biden said at the time, kicking off his sales pitch.
The president said Friday that “independent analysis shows that if we pass this plan, the economy will create 19 million jobs,” retooling his remarks.
The Moody’s report estimated that the economy will add about 19 million jobs between the fourth quarter of 2020 and the fourth quarter of 2030 if Biden’s infrastructure plan is passed. The economy would add an estimated 16.3 million jobs over the same period if the plan does not become law.
Biden’s package is predicted to add 2.7 million jobs, in other words.
He has directed five Cabinet members, including Buttigieg, to take “special responsibility” to “engage the public on selling the plan,” the president said last week, working with senior White House officials and Congress.
Asked on Monday about his claims, Buttigieg sought to add context.
“I should be precise about this,” Buttigieg told CNN. “So Moody’s modeled a future, a scenario, where the American Jobs Plan is passed. And in that scenario, they see the American economy creating 19 million jobs. And that’s 2.7 more than if this bill doesn’t pass. So the point is, this will contribute to a scenario where we create that many jobs, and millions of them are specifically attributable just to this plan.”
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Moody’s projected that without Biden’s American Jobs Plan and the just-passed American Rescue Plan, the economy would add about 15.7 million jobs over a decade.
