WASHINGTON (CN) — President Joe Biden clung to the silver lining of the latest jobs report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, which came in Friday lower than any time in the past 31 months.
Despite representing the smallest jobs increase of his administration, the addition of 209,000 jobs in June shows that employers are still hiring — just as they have for all but two months since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
“We are seeing stable and steady growth,” Biden said in a statement. “That’s Bidenomics — growing the economy by creating jobs, lowering costs for hardworking families, and making smart investments in America.”
Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su defined “Bidenomics" as rooted in the sharing of wealth.
“The Biden-Harris administration has implemented an investment agenda that prioritizes expanding the middle class and leaving no one behind,” Su said in a statement.
It's a term that has come up in the president's campaign appearances, most recently in South Carolina where Biden toured the site of a new clean energy manufacturing partnership Thursday.
Nationwide the unemployment rate sits at 3.6%, or about 6 million people, a slight decrease from 3.7% in May. Of those who are unemployed, about 1.1 million have been jobless for 27 weeks or more.
Unemployment is the highest for Black people at 6% and the lowest for white people at 3.1%.
State and local governments added nearly 60,000 jobs in June, continuing a trend of roughly 63,000 each month in the sector this year. The growth is below pre-pandemic levels of 161,000 per month, but outpaces the same period in 2022.
Other sectors to experience growth included health care with 41,000 jobs, social assistance at 24,000 jobs and construction at 23,000 jobs.
Some industries saw job loss, particularly retail at 11,000 jobs. Transportation and warehousing lost 7,000 jobs each.
Average hourly earnings across all industries rose by 12 cents to $33.58.
New Mexico Senator Martin Heinrich, chair of the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee, said economic growth remains strong.
“Our economy is stable and resilient, and our labor market remains strong and continues to grow. Pay for low-wage workers is growing at the fastest pace in over two decades [and] unemployment remains low,” the Democrat said in a press release. “Our economy is strongest when all Americans have access to good-paying jobs and new opportunities.”
Employment has grown an average of 278,000 jobs per month in 2023, which is lower than the average of 399,000 for the first six months of 2022.
The monthly jobs reports for the first 29 full months of Biden’s presidency have outpaced those of his predecessors. Since February 2021, the reports under Biden have totaled 13.2 million jobs.
In the same amount of time for former President Donald Trump, 5.6 million new jobs were reported.
Former President Barack Obama’s second term saw 6.6 million jobs added, but his first reported 1.4 million lost.
Former President George W. Bush’s administration reported 5.4 million jobs added in the first 29 months of his second term, but 2.5 million were lost in the same period of his first term.
State and national unemployment rates are adjusted to account for seasonal job trends. State data won’t be released until July 21.
In May, Nebraska, New Hampshire and North Dakota were tied for the lowest unemployment rate at 1.9%. Nevada had the highest in the continental U.S. at 5.4% and Puerto Rico is highest at 6.1%.
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