President Joe Biden delivered short remarks today on the July economic report, updating the nation on the status of the economy as it continues to recover from COVID-19.
Since Biden took office in January 2021 the economy has seen a quick recovery from COVID-19. The economy he inherited was down 10 million jobs, with thousands of Americans dying every day and the nation struck with high unemployment rates.
Now, Biden’s economy has seen the highest US economic growth rate in 40 years. Biden touted this success today when he provided new statistics on the current economy.
Biden announced that in July alone 943,000 new jobs have been created. On average, the administration has seen the creation of 832,000 new jobs each month for the past three months.
The president credited his administration as the first to create jobs every month for their first six months. The unemployment rate has repeatedly fallen in these months, currently sitting at 5.4%.
The economy has been a key focus of Biden’s presidency, with a spotlight on creating “good paying union jobs” for the blue collar workforce. The president has toured a number of manufacturing facilities and addressed people across the nation with his plans to rebuild the middle class.
Biden’s infrastructure package has been a key point for the development of union jobs. The Senate is still working on the $1 trillion dollar proposal for the bipartisan infrastructure plan.
According to Biden, the plan won’t raise taxes on any American making less than $400k a year. It’ll also create millions of jobs, 90% of which will not require a college degree.
“It’s a blue collar blueprint to rebuild America,” Biden said.
Yet the onset of the Delta variant of COVID-19 puts a pause on any economic success story.
“My message today is not one of celebration,” Biden said, “it’s one to remind us we got a lot of hard work left to be done.”
The work is two-fold: Beating the Delta variant and continuing the advancement of the economy. On the first front, Biden highlighted the continued work on vaccinating America.
The White House has reported that in the last week alone the number of first time vaccinations in America has increased by 4 million people. Currently, CDC data shows that about half of the population is fully vaccinated.
Biden doubled down on calling the current state of COVID-19 a “pandemic of the unvaccinated”, and repeated his plea to the nation to get a shot.
Yet the President acknowledged that continued recovery comes from more than a vaccine. He outlined the ongoing work of the American Rescue Plan with six specific actions that will be implemented in the next few weeks.
First, Biden announced that the government will send out its child tax credit check to almost 40 million families “within the next nine days”. Schools will also now have the resources they need to safely open in the fall.
Biden then addressed the billions of dollars given to states and localities to help landlords and renters stay in their homes and keep the economy strong. Currently, states and localities are in charge of distributing that money to their residents.
“That money has got to get out now,” Biden said, “I’m urging all local officials to get that money out.”
The administration will also help small businesses stay open, so they don’t run the risk of layoffs and closures in the wake of the Delta variant.
Biden’s last actions surrounded the healthcare industry. He announced that for those who use the Affordable Care Act, the government will now cover more people with more extensive health benefits– and lower premiums.
The White House will also lower the prices for “everything from prescription drugs to hearing aids”. Biden said Americans will now be able to buy a hearing aid over the counter.
The president ended his remarks with a simple plea to the United States: Get vaccinated to save lives, including your own.
“We can get this done. You just have to stay the course,” said Biden.