President Joe Biden just received some disappointing economic news.
Ahead of April’s jobs report, the Biden administration had been planning for a reason to celebrate, but the underwhelming numbers instead created a need to come up with excuses and political spin.
Missing the mark
Among the most lackluster points of data included in the report was the total number of jobs added to the economy last month: 266,000.
In February, 536,000 jobs were reportedly added, and that number ballooned to 770,000 in March. The expectation among many in the White House was that the trajectory would continue upward as more Americans receive COVID-19 vaccinations and more businesses begin a return to normal.
Forecasts predicted April would see between 755,000 and 1.25 million new jobs. In fact, the Biden administration was reportedly anxious to celebrate the milestone of adding 2 million jobs during its first 100 days, which would have required about 700,000 new jobs last month.
Not only did he come up 440,000 short in that projection, but the Labor Department also revised its reports to reflect the actual number of jobs added during February and March to the totals listed above.
Notably, those two months now show a combined 78,000 fewer jobs than previously reported.
“We still have a long way to go”
Furthermore, the report showed that, instead of sending the unemployment rate lower as many experts had predicted, the actual numbers caused it to tick back up to 6.1%. For his part, Biden attempted to put a positive spin on the clearly disappointing news.
Instead of the celebratory statement he had been planning, the president declared: “When we passed the American Rescue Plan, I want to remind everybody it was designed to help us over the course of a year, not 60 days. We never thought that after the first 50 or 60 days, everything would be fine. This month’s job numbers show we’re on the right track. We still have a long way to go.”
Jesse Waters, co-host of Fox News Channel’s The Five, weighed in by calling the news a “jobs disaster” for Biden, who “has promised to supercharge the economy with trillions in new spending” and is now relegated to “spinning the news and using it to push his socialist agenda.”
Unfortunately, things could get progressively worse from here.
Even mainstream media outlets are beginning to acknowledge that inflation appears to be threatening further economic growth across the country.
The post ‘On the right track’: Biden admin attempts to downplay devastating April jobs report first appeared on Conservative Institute.
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