“Small businesses and workers who lose their job are paying the price for Democrats’ failed leadership.”

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

“The clear winner of ‘Bidenomics’ continues to be big government. The latest job report shows that nearly a quarter of new jobs were created by government, while Mom-and-Pop stores had to cut 100,000 jobs in the last six months. Small manufacturers alone had to cut over 10,000 jobs just last month and the latest report shows manufacturing job growth at close to zero. What further proof is needed that President Biden’s ‘manufacturing boom’ is a bust, given his record of high prices and high interest rates. Small businesses and workers who lose their job are paying the price for Democrats’ failed leadership. 

“Small businesses and families need tax relief. The Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act will make it easier for small businesses to expand, create jobs, and compete against China. Working parents will have more money in their pocket to deal with Bidenflation. The Senate should quickly consider and pass this pro-growth, pro-jobs, pro-America bill.”

Survey: Mom-and-Pop Businesses Are Cutting Jobs

According to the Intuit QuickBooks Small Business Index, small businesses are cutting jobs because of skyrocketing costs:

• Small businesses with between 1-9 employees have cut jobs each month for the last six months since October, totaling over 100,000 jobs.
• In March, small businesses with between 1-9 employees cut 12,900 jobs.
• Small manufacturers cut 10,800 jobs just in March. 

Key Background

• Bureaucrats Over Blue-Collar Workers: In March, nearly a quarter (23 percent) of new jobs were created by government agencies, while manufacturing employment showed “little or no change.”
• Prices have increased 18.6 percent since President Biden took office.
• Real wages and benefits have fallen 4.2 percent since President Biden took office.
• Inflation outpaced wages for 26 straight months of Biden’s presidency.
• Mortgage rates reached a 23 year high of 7.8 percent in October. The average monthly mortgage payment has increased by $959 and is 85 percent higher than when President Biden took office in January 2021.
• Credit card interest rates are at the highest level in nearly three decades, while consumer credit debt has reached an all-time high of just over $1 trillion and the number of Americans struggling to pay credit card bills has increased sharply.