The COVID-19 pandemic’s economic sting will hurt even more next month after a “grim” November jobs report, President-elect Joe Biden warned.
The economy added 245,000 jobs in November and the unemployment rate dipped to 6.7%, the Labor Department reported Friday. But Biden seized on how the figures fell short of forecasters’ expectations, representing the weakest monthly hiring total since April due to slowed job creation.
Biden described the “grim jobs report” as “a snapshot from mid-November, before the surge in COVID cases and deaths in December, as we head into a dark winter.”
“If Congress and President Trump fail to act, by the end of December, 12 million Americans will lose the unemployment benefits they rely on to keep food on the table and pay their bills,” he said.
He continued, “Emergency paid leave will end. The moratorium on evictions will expire. States and cities will lose vital tools they need to help pay for testing and public health workers to fight COVID, to keep children and educators safe in schools, and to provide assistance to keep small businesses alive.”
The two-term vice president and 36-year Delaware senator insisted he was “encouraged” by movement on Capitol Hill regarding a bipartisan $908 billion relief package, which could pass during the lame-duck congressional session. But he repeated it would just be a “start,” invoking Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
“As we inherit this economic crisis, Vice President-elect Harris and I are working on the plan we will put forward for the next Congress to move fast and control the pandemic, revive the economy, and build back better than before,” Biden said.
He is scheduled to deliver more remarks on the subject Friday afternoon.
