Joe Biden touts 850,000 jobs added in June which exceeded expectations

However, the unemployment rate rose slightly to 5.9%, according to the Labor Department

President Joe Biden on Friday morning touted the just-released June jobs report that revealed that 850,000 jobs were added – exceeding economists’ expectations.

Nonfarm payrolls rose 850,000 last month, according to the report released by the Labor Department, which was better than the Dow Jones estimate of 706,000 and the upwardly revised 583,000 in May.

‘We are prepared to celebrate Independence Day,’ Biden said in his briefing from the White House. ‘Today’s job news brought us something else to celebrate.’

There were ‘notable job gains’ in the sectors of leisure and hospitality, public and private education, retail trade, professional and business services and other services, the report stated. The hiring leap was the US economy’s strongest gain in 10 months.

However, the unemployment rate rose slightly to 5.9%, versus the 5.6% projection. The unemployment rate in May was 5.8%. There were 9.5million people without jobs in June.

The labor force participation rate, 61.6%, was unchanged. Meanwhile, the number of workers who voluntarily quit to look for new jobs increased by 164,000 last month.

Biden said that wages went up for American workers and that an average of 600,000 jobs have been created since he took office.

‘We have now created more than 3million jobs – more jobs that have been created in the first five months of any presidency in modern history,’ Biden said. ‘This is historic progress, pulling our economy out of the worst crisis in a hundred years.’

The job gains pace helped ‘flip the script’ in the labor market as employers are raising pay and providing perks in the competition for workers, the president said.

‘That kind of competition in the market doesn’t just give workers more ability to earn higher wages,’ he said. ‘It gives them the power to demand to be treated with dignity and respect in the workplace. More jobs, better wages. That’s a good combination.’

Biden used the uplifting June jobs report as an opportunity to hail the $1.9trillion economic stimulus bill that Congress passed and he signed into law in March.

‘None of this happened by accident, it’s a direct result of the American Rescue Plan,’ Biden said. ‘At the time, people questioned whether we should do it even though we didn’t have bipartisan support. Well, it worked.’

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