‘This is historic progress:’ Biden touts economic recovery after US added 850,000 jobs in June
By Kate Sullivan, CNN
President Joe Biden on Friday touted America’s economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic after the US added 850,000 jobs in June.
“This is historic progress. Pulling our economy out of the worst crisis in 100 years. Driven in part by our dramatic progress in vaccinating our nation and beating back the pandemic,” Biden said at the White House.
The US economy added far more jobs in June than economists had expected. The strong jobs numbers are a signal American job growth is accelerating as the country recovers from the coronavirus pandemic.
The unemployment rate, however, stood at 5.9%, up from 5.8% in May, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.
The hospitality and leisure sector had the strongest growth and added 343,000 jobs in June. More than half of those jobs were at restaurants and bars.
The comments come as Biden looks to pass two major proposals on infrastructure and expanding the social safety net.
A deal was made last week on a roughly $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure proposal between the White House and a group of Republican and Democratic senators that includes key moderate lawmakers.
As the White House looks to push that legislation through Congress, they are also looking to pursue a second, more expansive effort on education, child care and paid leave. Democrats are entering a critical stage in the negotiations over the shape of this sweeping, multi-trillion dollar social safety net expansion.
This is a breaking story and will be updated.
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