Acting U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Julie Su
Jobs. Inflation. Unemployment. Interest rates. Price of goods. Pick your indicator — they all show that President Biden’s strategy to stabilize and strengthen the U.S. economy is moving full steam ahead. He is keeping his promises with a new theme: “New year, same goal: an economy that works for everyone.”
Take jobs, for instance. The Department of Labor’s December jobs report showed that the U.S. added another 216,000 jobs last month. Last week, acting U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Julie Su said: “Today, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the American economy added 216,000 jobs in December, and the unemployment rate held steady at 3.7 percent, continuing the longest stretch of unemployment below 4 percent in more than 50 years.”
President Biden also shared some powerful words on the accomplishments evident from the jobs report: “This morning’s report confirms that 2023 was a great year for American workers. The economy created 2.7 million new jobs in 2023 — a year when the unemployment rate was consistently below 4 percent — more jobs than during any year of the prior administration.”
Some remarkable feats are tucked quietly into those statements. Longest stretch of unemployment below 4 percent in more than 50 years? More jobs created in 2023 than in any year of the Trump administration? President Biden is continuing his commitment to do the hard work necessary to keep America great. To borrow a country lyric, he’s also doing so with “a little less talk and a lot more action.”
Jobs are up. Unemployment is down. The good news keeps rolling in. By nearly every indicator, our country’s economy is continuing to stabilize, improve and strengthen.
“The stable economic growth of 2023, along with evidence pointing to a broad and equitable recovery, was not preordained,” continued Labor Secretary Su. “It is the result of President Biden’s vision that when we do right by workers, our economy does well, and our country gets stronger.”
Next up for discussion: inflation.
The entire globe has been challenged with rising inflation over the past few years, and the U.S. has not been immune to this hard reality. However, as President Biden stated in August: “While we have more to do, inflation is down by two-thirds. Inflation is now down close to 3 percent, the lowest among the world’s leading economies, with wages growing faster than inflation. This matters to ordinary people.” The fact that America leads the world with the lowest inflation is a considerable accomplishment!
The price of goods is another economic indicator, and there’s good news to report there as well. As President Biden noted recently: “The strong job creation continued even as inflation fell to the pre-pandemic level of 2 percent over the last six months, and key prices have fallen over the last year — for a gallon of gas, a gallon of milk, toys, appliances, car rentals and airline fares. American workers’ wages and wealth are higher now than before the pandemic began, adjusting for inflation.”
When President Biden first spoke to the American people after winning the 2020 presidential election, he spoke clearly of his promises. “I pledge to be a president who seeks not to divide, but to unify,” he said in November 2020. “Who doesn’t see red and blue states, but a United States. And who will work with all my heart to win the confidence of the whole people. For that is what America is about: the people. … I sought this office to restore the soul of America. To rebuild the backbone of this nation — the middle class. To make America respected around the world again and to unite us here at home.
Those are big goals and big promises. President Biden is keeping them.
America is better for it.
Bill Freeman
Bill Freeman is the owner of FW Publishing, the publishing company that produces the Nashville Scene, Nfocus, the Nashville Post, and The News.
