“With a majority of industries losing jobs and indications we have fallen into a recession, this jobs report is one of the worst we have ever seen from the Biden-Harris Administration.”
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (MO-08) issued the following statement after the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the July 2024 jobs report showing unemployment rising to 4.3 percent with the highest number of unemployed Americans since October 2021:
“With a majority of industries losing jobs and indications we have fallen into a recession, this jobs report is one of the worst we have ever seen from the Biden-Harris Administration. Not only are families already struggling to keep up with a 20 percent increase in prices since the start of the Biden-Harris Administration, more Americans took on second jobs to make ends meet. Full-time jobs keep being replaced by multiple part-time jobs. President Biden’s blue-collar ‘manufacturing jobs boom’ is nowhere to be found; meanwhile more government bureaucrats were added to the ranks of the 1.5 million government workers already hired thanks to Biden-Harris’s massive government spending explosion.
“As Democrats cause middle-class Americans more financial stress, Republicans are working to bring back jobs that fuel America and allow families to get ahead. That is why the Ways and Means Republican Tax Teams are meeting with working Americans and small businesses across the country to stop the Biden-Harris Administration’s plan to impose a $7 trillion tax hike on already anxious Americans.”
READ: Averting President Biden’s 2025 Tax Hike
Jobs Report Is More of the Same Biden-Harris Failure
- More Part-Time Jobs: Since the start of the Biden-Harris Administration in January 2021, 1.8 million more Americans have had to take multiple jobs. In July, another 33,000 Americans took on second or third jobs. Over the last year, 508,000 full-time jobs have been replaced with 548,000 part-time jobs.
- More Bureaucrats: Since the Biden-Harris Administration began, 30 percent of new jobs have come from hiring for government salaries. In July, government agencies added 17,000 to taxpayer-funded payrolls.
- No “Manufacturing Boom”: In the last year, American manufacturers have added only 14,000 total jobs. In July, manufacturers added just 1,000 jobs following an 8,000 cut in June.
Key Background:
- Families Falling Behind on Bills: Over one-third of families (37 percent) paid a late fee in the past year.
- Everything Costs More: Prices have increased 20.1 percent since the beginning of the Biden-Harris Administration.
- Americans Making Less: Real wages and benefits have fallen 3.6 percent since the beginning of the Biden-Harris Administration.
- Inflation Above Fed’s Target: For 39 straight months, inflation has been above the Federal Reserve’s 2 percent target.
- Inflation Higher Than Wages: Inflation outpaced wages for 26 straight months under the Biden-Harris Administration.
- Historic Interest Rates: Under the Biden-Harris Administration, interest rates hit their highest levels in 23 years.
- Nearly Doubled Mortgage Costs: The monthly mortgage payment for a median priced new home has increased by $1,027 and is 91 percent higher than when President Biden and Vice President Harris took office in January 2021.
- $1 Trillion+ Credit Card Debt: Credit card interest rates are at the highest level in more than three decades, while consumer credit debt has exceeded $1 trillion for the second calendar quarter and the number of Americans struggling to pay credit card bills has increased to the highest level in 12 years.
- Shrinking Savings: Thanks to higher prices, families have spent the entirety of their pandemic savings by 2024, and they are able to save less of their income. At 3.4 percent, the personal savings rate is near its historic lows.
- Families Falling Behind on Bills: Over one-third of families (37 percent) paid a late fee in the past year.