President Joe Biden boasted during the debate that the economy has created 15,000 new jobs under his administration, a figure that appears to be an error on his part. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the economy has actually added around 15.6 million jobs since January 2021, when Biden took office.
While it is true that the economy has continued to add jobs each month since then, the context is important. Many of these jobs were simply positions that were lost during the pandemic and have since been regained as businesses reopened. Additionally, employment rates have yet to fully recover, with the employment-to-population ratio still below its pre-pandemic level.
Despite these caveats, the labor market has been performing relatively well. The economy added 272,000 jobs in May, and the unemployment rate has reached a historically low level of 4%. Many economists had predicted that the country would experience a recession by now, but instead, jobs have remained plentiful.
However, inflation is a growing concern for voters, with prices outpacing wage growth and eroding purchasing power. As a result, Biden’s economic approval ratings are underwater, and he has faced criticism from his political opponents for his handling of the economy.
