Biden clings to final jobs report heading into Election Day
As polls close in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, Vice President Joe Biden is likely to claim credit for the economy and job market’s recent, record-setting rebound.
The former vice president told ‘All In with Chris Hayes’ radio show last week that the positive momentum was built on the strong economy and the fact that millions of Americans were getting work again.
Biden also said the economic recovery would help him to “hold the line” on President Donald Trump’s policies and that his economic policies could be “in sync” with his Democratic agenda.
“You take away the economy, you take away jobs, you take away the economy, then you’re going to hold back in some of the tough stuff,” Biden said. “I think we’re moving in that direction. I think we’re moving in that direction.”
Biden was speaking shortly after the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a better-than-expected annual gain in employment, to hit a six-year high of 195,000, last month.
It was an encouraging sign for the economy, which was otherwise in a weak spot during 2016 and 2017. The labor force participation rate, an indicator of potential worker participation, was the lowest it has been in 20 years.
A major factor in the economy was a plunge in the Federal Reserve’s key inflation rate, which was stuck in negative territory. The central bank’s target rate of 2 percent was the lowest in more than a decade and the Fed said on Friday that it would likely raise rates next month, a move that would likely bring inflation to below its target.
“There are some reasons for the lack of wage growth. One is demographics, one is labor force participation rate,” Biden said on “All In” alongside Hayes. “And those are the two reasons that are going to get in the way of it and keep a lot of folks out of the workforce.”
If Biden is elected, he and his team will have to contend with another challenge: His party will face the prospect of Trump and Republican lawmakers not giving