President Biden appeared in a press briefing room for the first time since taking office on Friday, touting strong jobs numbers and a resolution to port strikes on the East Coast and Gulf Coast that threatened to disrupt the economy.
“We've had some very good news about the U.S. economy over the last two days,” Biden said.
“Just yesterday, shipping companies, in consultation with the International Longshoremen's Union, reached an agreement to keep ports open on the East Coast and the Gulf. was avoided.”
The International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) on Thursday night reached a tentative agreement with the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) to end a strike that experts estimate could cost the economy up to $5 billion a day. reached.
“I would like to especially thank the carriers, port operators and longshore workers unions for reaching this agreement at a time when the country is experiencing the terrible devastation caused by Hurricane Helen,” he added. “It was truly a service to the American people that all of these parties came together to meet our demands to keep our ports open.”
“Today we heard even more surprising news,” he added, pointing to the September employment report that was much better than expected.
The U.S. added 254,000 jobs in September, and the unemployment rate fell to 4.1%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Economists had predicted that U.S. jobs would grow by just 140,000 jobs and the unemployment rate would hold steady at 4.2%, according to consensus estimates.
“From the beginning, we've been told over and over again that the policies we pursued and proposed wouldn't work and would make things even worse. Some of the other teams are still saying that.” It's going to get worse, and we proved that wrong,” Biden said.
“Look at the overall results. The unemployment rate is down to 4.1 percent, and we've created jobs every month since Vice President Harris and I took office. “We created more jobs in one presidential term than at any other time in American history.''
Biden also called out Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). claimed without evidence On Friday, he falsely claimed that the jobs report was a “fabrication” and that 16 of the past 17 jobs reports had been revised downwards after their initial release.
The September employment report has revised upwards the combined employment gains for July and August, with a total of 72,000 jobs added.
“If you notice that you don't like the MAGA Republicans, you say they're fake. You name it. The jobs numbers are the jobs numbers, and they're real. They're honest,” Biden said.
Brett Samuels contributed.
Updated at 2:50pm EDT
