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Biden-Harris Record: Job Losses for Small Business While Adding More Government Bureaucrats

September 06, 2024

Chairman Smith: “A stumbling job market is a part of the price Americans are paying as the Federal Reserve tries to clean up the inflation crisis created by the Biden-Harris Administration’s runaway spending.”

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

“A stumbling job market is a part of the price Americans are paying as the Federal Reserve tries to clean up the inflation crisis created by the Biden-Harris Administration’s runaway spending. The Biden-Harris Administration has spent billions for a manufacturing jobs boom, but really, it’s been a blue-collar bust. America, today, has fewer manufacturing jobs than it did a year ago. Small businesses are getting crushed by failed policies and had to cut over 43,000 jobs just in the last year. Make no mistake, the Biden-Harris Administration is no friend to small businesses or workers. Meanwhile, the Administration’s grow-government-first hiring spree continues with another 24,000 new bureaucrats added to the already 1.5 million paid for by Democrats’ reckless spending. 

“Instead of cutting spending, taxes and nonsense regulations, the Biden-Harris plan is to raise taxes on workers, families, farmers, and small businesses by letting the Trump tax cuts expire. Their plan for small businesses is to raise tax rates to over 44 percent, a rate more than 20 points higher than that of Communist China. That’s why Ways and Means Republican Tax Teams are fighting to restore and extend the Trump tax cuts that have a proven record of helping job creators of all sizes hire new workers and raise wages.” 

READ: Averting the Harris 2025 Tax Hike
READ: Tax Team Recap: Ways and Means Republicans Hit the Ground Running Ahead of 2025 Trump Tax Cut Expirations
READ: Tax Teams Recap: Preventing the Harris $7 Trillion Tax Hike
READ: Tax Teams Recap: Over August, Ways and Means Tax Teams Continue to Hit the Road

Jobs Report Is More of the Same Biden-Harris Failure

  • Smallest Businesses Cut Jobs: Small businesses employing less than 10 people cut 43,100 jobs in the last year (Intuit Quickbooks Small Business Index)
  • More Part-Time Jobs: Since the start of the Biden-Harris Administration in January 2021, 1.7 million more Americans have had to take multiple jobs. In August alone, 264,000 more Americans took on part-time work for economic reasons. 
  • More Bureaucrats: Since the Biden-Harris Administration began, 30 percent of new jobs have come from hiring for government salaries. In August, government agencies added 24,000 to taxpayer-funded payrolls.
  • No “Manufacturing Boom”: In August, manufacturers cut another 24,000 jobs and the United States has shed 14,000 manufacturing jobs in the last year.

Key Background: 

  • Everything Costs More: Prices have increased 20.3 percent since the beginning of the Biden-Harris Administration. 
  • Americans Making Less: Real wages and benefits have fallen 3.9 percent since the beginning of the Biden-Harris Administration.
  • Inflation Above Fed’s Target: For 41 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 89% Higher: The monthly mortgage payment for a median priced new home has increased by $1,005 and is 89 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 five calendar quarters and 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. At 3.3 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.
  • 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.