Reuters
Published Jun 04, 2021 10:31AM ET
Updated Jun 04, 2021 12:32PM ET
By Jarrett Renshaw and Trevor Hunnicutt
REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. (Reuters) -Unemployment is down and wages are up, President Joe Biden said on Friday, as his administration touted data that left some economists concerned about the U.S. labor market.
"This is historic progress," Biden said in a speech. "None of this success is an accident. It isn't luck."
The Labor Department's closely watched employment report on Friday showed 559,000 nonfarm jobs created last month, with wages rising, though millions of unemployed Americans remained at home.
Economists polled by Reuters predicted even stronger job growth of 650,000 jobs created in May, and say the factors keeping people from working may include a lack of childcare and generous unemployment checks. Employment is about 7.6 million jobs below its peak in February 2020.
Rising wages are good for workers but threaten employers' profits and risk sparking paycheck-eating inflation.
"May jobs report is good enough, but not great," concluded JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM)'s Michael Feroli.
Republicans are pushing to cut the unemployment checks, with half of U.S. states, all led by GOP governors, cutting off billions of dollars in unemployment benefits for residents.
"Biden and Democrats are holding back Americans from reentering the workforce and, therefore, holding back our economy," said Ronna McDaniel, chairwoman of the Republican National Committee.
An extra $300 in unemployment benefits was a key part of Democrats' stimulus plan enacted in March to help the United States survive the coronavirus recession.
Heather Boushey, a member of Biden's Council of Economic Advisers, said the White House is not pressuring states to take the money because "labor markets are local."
"We always knew that jobs would start to come back as soon as we wrapped our heads around the pandemic, and those added benefits - many of them expire in September," she said. "So it's just a couple more months now that people have access to them, and they provided a really important support for American families."
Written By: Reuters
Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.