A pandemic–the Canadian trucker protest at an end, and the ongoing war in Ukraine. it’s all been hitting our economy here at home–hard. The Biden administration promised to “build back better” since coming into office. The latest American jobs report showed that despite all this, almost 680,000 jobs were created last month.
You may be wondering how this will affect our economy. 23ABC’s Kristin Vartan sat down virtually with The White House to get the answers.
"Vice President Harris and I ran for office with a new economic vision for America,"
President Joe Biden at the State of the Union Address this past week. White House Press Secretary for Economics, Emilie Simons pointed to how the Biden administration has created 7.4 million jobs since the president took office.
The unemployment rate fell 3.8 percent in February. It has fallen in Bakersfield from 10.7 percent in July to 7.7 in December, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“This shows the strength of our economy, and we credit that to the American rescue plan, and the fact that we’ve vaccinated millions of Americans across the country, and provided the tools to keep our businesses and schools open.”
House minority leader, Kevin McCarthy has a different view.
The congressman responded to Biden’s address with the following statement. He wrote in part:
“President Biden’s State of the Union was out of touch. He painted a rosy picture of our nation while failing to fully acknowledge the challenges that our communities are facing created by his failed policies. In California, we have felt these challenges directly: record-high gas prices that are rising every week, violent crime, and our ports are backlogged causing a supply chain crisis that is keeping our farmers from selling the food they grow.”
McCarthy added that the Republican party planned to “support families, keep our communities safe, and get our country back on track. That starts with producing more Californian-made energy to reduce our energy prices, securing our border, and allowing our children to learn alongside other students inside the classroom.”
Meanwhile, the latest American jobs report showed, almost 680,000 jobs were created last month.
“We’ve seen more trucking and manufacturing jobs added since 1994,” Simons said. “That’s critical because it helps the strength of our economy to make goods here at home, domestic manufacturing, and to move those goods smoothly.”
America has continued to grapple with the highest inflation rate in 40 years. The seven percent inflation rate came from a combination of an ongoing pandemic, supply chain issues, and a war abroad. Creating jobs at home can aid in solving this issue, according to Simons.
“It’s all about our supply chain. A lot of that is credit to our Trucker Manufacturing Plan. we’re going to see a smoother supply chain,” Simons said. “Goods getting on shelves, and that makes it easier for consumers to buy them at reasonable prices.”
