On Thursday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Katy Tur Reports,” White House Council of Economic Advisers Chair Jared Bernstein responded to a majority of Americans saying they’re living paycheck-to-paycheck and those who aren’t feeling the economy improving by acknowledging that “it’s early days for those wage gains,” and so he’s “very sympathetic to the idea that people need to see them continue, and I think if the job market stays tight, they will.”
Guest host Alex Witt asked, “[A]s you know, a majority of Americans still say they are living paycheck-to-paycheck. So, what is the message to those people who don’t really personally feel the economy improving, despite the White House’s messaging?”
Bernstein responded, “Well, I think there, we have to consider what we’ve been talking about in terms of current events, where we have, again, a strong labor market supporting consumer spending and real wage gains. But it’s early days for those wage gains, by the way. So, I’m very sympathetic to the idea that people need to see them continue, and I think if the job market stays tight, they will. But I think we also need to look around the corner. You see a president that is working day in and day out on behalf of the American people. The prescription drug announcement that came out earlier this week, it’s going to help the incomes of millions of seniors by allowing them to spend less on prescription drugs. This morning, we announced a proposed overtime rule, so that people could get fair overtime pay on the job, and, of course, there’s the deep investment agenda behind Bidenomics, which is supporting manufacturing across this country in rural areas, in urban areas, in blue states, in red states. So, we believe that the current dynamics in the economy are moving in the right direction, but we’re planting the speeds for a more prosperous future as well.”
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