US Jobs and Wages Rise... Biden Says "All Lost Jobs Recovered"

U.S. President Joe Biden said that long-standing efforts to ease inflation are bearing fruit while both the number of jobs and wages are also on the rise.

At a press event held in the White House Rose Garden on the 1st (local time), President Biden emphasized, "While easing inflation over a long period, jobs are increasing and wages are going up. This is important."

In August, nonfarm payrolls increased by 187,000 compared to the previous month, while the unemployment rate reached 3.8%, the highest since February last year. Although employment indicators were mixed, President Biden assessed that the overall economy and employment conditions continue to improve.

President Biden noted that when he took office in January 2021, the unemployment rate was 6.3%, and said, "During my tenure, we have created 13.5 million jobs, of which about 800,000 were in the manufacturing sector."

He added, "We have recovered all the jobs lost during the pandemic," and reiterated, "People are coming off the sidelines and returning to the workplace."

President Joe Biden of the United States. [Image source=UPI Yonhap News]

According to the August employment report released by the U.S. Department of Labor on the same day, nonfarm payrolls in the U.S. increased by 187,000 last month compared to the previous month. This exceeded market expectations (170,000) but was significantly below the 12-month average increase (271,000), indicating a continued cooling of the labor market overheating.

Also, the unemployment rate in August rose by 0.3 percentage points to 3.8%, marking the highest level in one year and six months since February last year (3.8%).

Although jobs increased, the labor force participation rate, which had not changed since March, rose by 0.2 percentage points to 62.8% in August, reaching its highest level since February 2020 (63.3%) before the pandemic. This is analyzed as one of the reasons behind the rise in the unemployment rate.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.