White House hopes slower August job growth is a sign the economy is cooling at a manageable rate
By Phil Mattingly and Kate Sullivan, CNN
President Joe Biden on Friday is set to address an August jobs report that slightly exceeded analyst forecasts and marked another month of slowing job gains — something White House officials have actually been hoping for in recent months.
White House officials have been anxiously eying the release of August’s job report numbers for signs of a managed cooling off of a red-hot economy that has driven inflation not seen in decades.
Officials are keenly aware another gangbusters report would have almost certainly locked in another jumbo interest rate increase by the Federal Reserve this month. The Fed in July approved a super-sized interest rate hike of three-quarters of a percentage point for the second time in a row to temper rising costs for Americans amid the highest price increases in decades.
While Friday’s number doesn’t mean the Fed won’t go down that path, it’s more in line with a jobs market transitioning into a steady growth cycle, something Biden is expected to tout and detail Friday morning.
While Biden has made the Federal Reserve’s independence the central pillar of his administration’s inflation fight, officials are quietly aware that if the Fed sustains its rapid tightening — as Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell telegraphed last week — there could be dramatically negative effects on the very people Biden’s entire agenda was structured to assist.
The President is expected to speak at 11 a.m. ET Friday, and officials say he’ll speak about the jobs numbers.
During that speech, Biden is also expected to announce the 21 winners of a regional economic development competition who will each receive between $25 million and $65 million, the White House says, “to execute transformational projects and revitalize local industries.” The funding is being allocated from the Democrats’ American Rescue Plan passed last year.
The grants will go toward a range of projects, including programs to support the transition from traditional cars to electric vehicles, build a digital finance sector for small businesses in tribal communities, rebuild pharmaceutical supply chains and install solar energy on former coal land. More than $270 million of the funding will go toward developing workforce training and development programs, the White House said.
The White House says the awards will allocate $87 to two primarily Tribal coalitions and more than $150 million will go toward projects serving communities impacted by the declining use of fossil fuels.
The-CNN-Wire
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