In his State of the Union speech on Tuesday, President Biden is expected to highlight the recent employment statistics.
According to White House Economic Adviser Jared Bernstein’s interview on “Fox News Sunday,” the United States is not in a recession as of the January jobs report.
Bernstein said that “my thesis is that 3.4% unemployment is hardly recessionary.” Recessionary conditions do not exist when the economy adds half a million jobs in January and the GDP grows by 2.9% by year’s end.
President Biden is expected to underscore this strategy in his State of the Union speech on Tuesday, as the White House continues to tout strong employment data to counter voter worries over historically high levels of inflation and gas costs. Inflation is at its greatest level in four decades, while the jobless rate is at its lowest level since 1969.
On Sunday, Bernstein credited President Biden with the decrease in inflation and petrol prices seen over the past year.
Bernstein claims that the president’s “measures to shore up and unsnarl our supply chains, and to enhance the supply of energy further and moving into 2023 when the Inflation Reduction Act comes in” have contributed to the six consecutive months of inflation decline.
The 2022 inflation rate dropped to 6.5% from 2021’s 7%. Last year, the price of a gallon of gas reached $5 and dropped to $3.60 in January. Bernstein disregarded speculation that the price of a gallon of petrol may rise to $4 once more.
I don’t think it’s possible to see that far ahead,” Bernstein remarked. Since its high in June of last year, the price of petrol has dropped by $1.50, giving working Americans some much-needed breathing room. “I think the president has taken bold action and shown that he can offer some breathing room for folks at the pump.”
Before the State of the Union, Bernstein relayed the White House’s message that Americans’ monthly bills will be going down.
While “price levels are high, they are trending correctly,” as Bernstein put it.