WASHINGTON – President Biden bragged Friday about monthly employment data showing about 187,000 new jobs were created in August, but a reporter’s question about data showing the majority of Americans were largely ignored. they live paycheck to paycheck amid high inflation and rising interest rates.
“We have recovered all the jobs lost during the pandemic and we have added a million more new jobs,” Biden announced in the Rose Garden of the White House.
“More than 700,000 people joined the workforce last month, which means that the greater proportion of working-age Americans are in the workforce now than at any time in the past 20 years,” the president added. who counted the nearly 550,000 people who started looking for work last month without being able to find work.
After the remarks, Biden, 80, turned and walked back to the Oval Office as a reporter shouted, “Why are so many Americans living paycheck to paycheck?”
The president did not respond.
President Biden on Friday boasted about monthly employment data showing that about 187,000 new jobs were created in August.CNP/Polaris
Although job growth remained positive, job gains for June and July were revised down by a combined 110,000, bringing the most recent three-month average to 150,000 new jobs, the lowest since Biden took office in January 2021, even as more Americans are looking for jobs.
Falling job growth signals a possible economic slowdown as the Federal Reserve’s rate hikes to tame inflation also restrain consumer and business spending.
Biden insisted on Friday that inflation was cooling (reaching an annual rate of 3.2% in July), although US prices remain 17% higher than when he took office.
Biden walked away ignoring a reporter’s question about data showing most Americans are living paycheck to paycheck amid high inflation and interest rates.
About 61% of Americans currently live paycheck to paycheck, meaning they lack savings for potential emergencies, according to a LendingClub survey released this week.
The Federal Reserve’s high interest rates have created new economic problems by causing the average interest rate on consumer credit cards to skyrocket to 27.99%, about double the average of 14.6% when Biden took office.
Meanwhile, average mortgage rates for a 30-year loan hit 7.48% last week, the highest since November 2000 and a sharp increase from 2.65% in January 2021. The increase has caused a sharp drop in real estate transactions.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn