The Facts
The US Dept. of Labor on Friday announced that employers had added 223K jobs in December, dropping the unemployment rate from 3.6% to 3.5% – a 53-year low.
Meanwhile, average hourly wage growth increased by 4.6% in December from a year ago. That was a little slower than the 4.8% year-over-year increase seen in November.
The Spin
Democratic narrative
These are astonishing numbers, and once again the pundits, who’ve been predicting a recession every time there’s the slightest slowdown, have been proven wrong. Inflation is waning, having dropped in the third quarter of last year to half of what it was for the first half of 2022, and job growth is strong. Biden is proving to be one of the best presidents ever on jobs.
Republican narrative
The Biden admin. can try to spin this report in a positive light, but there are still too many negatives that the American people can’t ignore. Wage growth isn’t outpacing inflation, so Americans are suffering a cut of more than 2% to their wages. Labor force participation is also lower than pre-COVID 2020 levels. Biden is missing the chance to stop inflation and keep the US from a recession.
