President Joe Biden says the United States is “well positioned” to handle inflation following the February jobs report.
In a statement Friday, Biden said, “Today’s report shows that my plan to build an economy from the bottom up and the middle out is working to get America back to work. Since I took office, the economy has created 7.4 million jobs. That’s 7.4 million jobs providing families with dignity and a little more breathing room. We are building a better America.”
Biden noted in February the economy added 678,000 jobs “following the greatest year of job growth in American history and the fasted economic growth in almost 40 years.”
Additionally, the unemployment rate dropped to 3.8%. Biden argued that “more people are rejoining the labor force and finding jobs as we recover from the pandemic.”
He pointed out there were jobs gained in leisure and hospitality, construction, retail, and manufacturing.
Biden attributed the progress to “the new economic approach I talked about in the State of the Union — grow the economy from the bottom up and the middle out. And it’s a result of our success combating COVID-19 and moving forward safely.”
He added, “While we must tackle head on the challenge families are facing with rising costs, today’s report underscores that the United States is uniquely well positioned to deal with the challenge that inflation has posed across the world as we recover from the pandemic.”
Read the president’s statement below:
The White House
— Tommy moderna-vaX-Topher (@tommyxtopher) March 4, 2022
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 4, 2022
Statement by President Biden on the February Jobs Report pic.twitter.com/fJMK7HJeXN
Axios noted inflation is high considering prices spiked 7.5% over the past year as of January. On Thursday, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell warned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will worsen inflation.
“Commodity prices have moved up — energy prices, in particular,” Powell said, adding, “That’s going to work its way through the U.S. economy. We’re going to see upward pressure on inflation, at least for a while.”