As President Joe Biden highlighted stronger-than-expected jobs data on Friday (February 3), he expressed he wouldn’t be taking responsibility for the ongoing inflationary challenges experienced by the U.S.
In January, the U.S. added 517,000 jobs in the economy, a figure nearly twice as much as was forecast.
As Biden announced these boisterous figures, one reporter queried if he took any “blame” for inflation.
In response, Biden stated, “No.”
Biden added that he didn’t shoulder any blame for inflation because of “what the economy was like” when he took Office.
He elaborated that the U.S. was “hemorrhaging” jobs and “inflation was rising.”
Biden added, “We weren’t manufacturing a damn thing here,” emphasizing that the U.S. was “in real economic difficulty.”
Yet, the data doesn’t agree with Biden.
When he entered the Oval Office in January 2021, the Consumer Price Index, which measures inflation, stood at 1.4 percent. The most recent figures showed inflation was at 6.5 percent year-over-year in December.
Furthermore, since Biden’s inauguration, an analysis from the Heritage Foundation released on Thursday (February 2) showed the average American household had lost $7,400 in annual income due to inflation and interest rates.
Under Biden, policymakers have voted to raise interest rates in seven consecutive decisions, with the latest 0.25 percentage increase leading to the interest rate reaching 4.5 percent.
Yet, these figures were overshadowed when the Labor Department released its monthly payroll report, showing that 517,000 jobs were added in January, far more than the 185,000 jobs predicted by Refinitiv economists and the best month for job creation since July 2022.
