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Job Report Is Indictment of Biden-Harris Incompetence

November 01, 2024

Chairman Smith: “If you look under the hood of the Biden-Harris jobs market, the facts show an ongoing struggle for blue-collar workers, a boom for bureaucrats, and paychecks that don’t pay the bills anymore.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (MO-08) issued the following statement after the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the October 2024 jobs report showing only 12,000 jobs created:

“This jobs report is more evidence of the stunning incompetence of the Biden-Harris Administration. If you look under the hood of the Biden-Harris jobs market, the facts show an ongoing struggle for blue-collar workers, a boom for bureaucrats, and paychecks that don’t pay the bills anymore. Taxpayers funded over 1.6 million new bureaucrats under the Biden-Harris Administration, while manufacturers cut 50,000 jobs in the last year. The average paycheck is worth 3.2 percent less today than at the start of the Biden-Harris Administration. This record is a window into what America’s future would be like under more Democrat control in Washington: more bureaucrats demanding more control over the lives of the American people and small businesses and workers crushed by tax hikes. 

“Vice President Harris has vowed to repeal the Trump tax cuts, which would force American small businesses to pay taxes that are more than 20 percent higher than that of Communist China. Ways and Means Republican Tax Teams have traveled to 20 states to conduct more than 120 listening sessions with job creators. They are telling us the Harris tax hike would devastate their ability to keep even the employees they have right now. We will continue our tireless work to provide tax relief so every American can work a job that supports their family.” 

READ: Averting the Harris Tax Hike
RECAP: Preventing the Biden-Harris $7 Trillion Tax Hike
RECAP: Over August, Ways and Means Tax Teams Continue to Hit the Road
RECAP: 2025 Super Bowl of Tax is Pro-Growth, Pro-America Tax Policy vs. Tax Hikes for Every American
RECAP: Preventing the Harris 2025 Tax Hike: Chairman Smith Holds Ways & Means Tax Teams Event in Kansas City, Missouri
RECAP: Tax Relief for the Heartland: Chairman Smith Holds Ways & Means Tax Team Event in St. Louis, Missouri
RECAP: Across the Country, Ways and Means Tax Teams Hear One Thing: Do Not Allow the Trump Tax Cuts to Expire

Key Background: 

  • Everything Costs More: Prices have increased 20.5 percent since the beginning of the Biden-Harris Administration. 
  • Americans Making Less: Real wages and benefits have fallen 3.2 percent since the beginning of the Biden-Harris Administration.
  • Inflation Above Fed’s Target: For 42 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.
  • Mortgage Costs Nearly 94 Percent Higher: The monthly mortgage payment for a median priced new home has increased $1,071 and is 94 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 their highest levels in more than three decades, while consumer credit debt has exceeded $1 trillion for five calendar quarters. The number of Americans struggling to pay credit card bills has increased to the highest level since March 2012. Nearly 11 percent of credit card balances are more than 90 days past due.
  • 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. The average personal savings rate since President Biden and Vice President Harris took office is 2.6 percent lower than the pre-Biden-Harris average and it remains comparatively low at 4.8 percent today. 
  • Families Falling Behind on Bills: Over one-third of families (37 percent) paid a late fee in the past year.
  • Washington Has a Spending Problem: After the Trump tax cuts, federal revenue as a share of GDP averaged 17.2 percent, near the average since FY2000. Since the start of the Biden-Harris Administration, federal spending as a share of GDP has exploded to 26.5 percent, more than 6 percentage points higher than the average from FY2000 to the pandemic.