President Joe Biden reacted to disappointing jobs numbers Friday, as the Labor Department reported only 235,000 jobs created in the month of September.
The president continued to spin the numbers as an improvement, despite a second consecutive month of employment numbers far below expectations of at least 500,000 jobs created.
“The monthly totals bounce around, but if you take a look at the trend it’s solid,” he said.
“Jobs up. Wages up. That’s progress,” he added.
But the president ultimately admitted the number of jobs created was not good enough.
“I’d like to see it faster and we’re going to make it faster,” he said.
Biden tried to spin the idea that the unemployment survey was taken in the middle of the month when coronavirus cases were still high.
He acknowledged, however, that Americans were frustrated by his party failing to move forward on his multitrillion spending agenda and proposed tax hikes.
“Right now, things in Washington are awfully noisy. Turn on the news and every conversation is a confrontation, every disagreement is a crisis,” he said.
He urged Americans to “take a step back,” arguing that there was still “real progress” happening in the economy.
The president argued that significant government spending and tax hikes on businesses were essential for a speedier economic recovery.
He said investments in public education were essential for the future of the United States, adding free universal pre-K and two years of free college could approve the economy. Biden also insisted that spending on green sources of energy would help the economy as well as fight climate change.
“These bills are about competitiveness versus complacency, opportunity versus decay,” he said.
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