Joe Biden faulted President Trump for last week's record-surge in jobless claims due to the economic downturn as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
"The harsh reality is that at least 3 million people now don’t have jobs because our president didn’t do his job when it mattered," the former vice president and likely Democratic presidential nominee said in a statement Thursday.
About 3.3 million people applied for unemployment benefits last week after mandated closures and recommended social distancing left companies to lay off staff. The previous record high was 695,000 in 1982.
Biden said that while Trump is not responsible for the virus itself, "he bears full responsibility for the slow and uncoordinated response."
"Nearly every country is facing this pandemic — but not every country has responded the same way," Biden said. "South Korea, among other steps, deployed intensive testing and contact-tracing measures to slow and control the spread of the virus. Donald Trump didn’t do that. He didn’t get ahead of it when he had the chance. And in the absence of an early, aggressive response to flatten the curve, cities and states have been left with no option other than extreme social distancing measures, causing businesses to close and lay off workers."
Trump has often pointed to record-low unemployment levels as a success of his administration. The coronavirus-induced economic downturn has complicated his campaign strategy.
The Republican National Committee said that the "Biden campaign’s response to coronavirus has shown just how out of step team Biden is with reality."
“The facts: The American people who have become unemployed because of the coronavirus have President Trump and Republicans to thank for the aid that is coming," Republican National Committee Rapid Response Director Steve Guest said in an email Thursday.
[Read more: Trump campaign counterattacks Biden on coronavirus by citing Obama administration record]
