Labor Secretary On How Biden Will Reverse Bad Jobs Numbers: ‘We’re Asking People To Get Vaccinated’
"The pandemic has control of our destiny," economist says
The answer to the deeply disappointing jobs report for August — in which a paltry 235,000 jobs were added back to the economy last month — is for more Americans to get themselves vaccinated, according to Labor Secretary Marty Walsh.
The federal jobs report issued Friday stunned economists and other observers, as it was the lowest number of new jobs added since January, vastly missing economists' expectations.
Experts blamed the ongoing pandemic, and specifically the virulent Delta variant of COVID-19.
“Delta is reducing consumer demand and threatening the reopening,” said Glassdoor Senior Economist Daniel Zhao. “Ultimately it's just a harsh reminder that the pandemic has control of our destiny,” he told CNN Business.
The pandemic is tamping down job growth in several ways, said Walsh, the former mayor of Boston, Massachusetts.
“I think there's a little bit of everything going on. I think people aren't going out to eat as much, or they didn't go out to eat as much in the last August. I think the one thing we have to keep in perspective here is that since February of 2020, we have been dealing with, living with a global pandemic. There is no road map on how we recover,” he said. “So when you think about the investment and we think about the American Rescue Plan and what that has done, we think about 4.5 million jobs have returned to our economy since President Biden has been sworn in as president of the United States of America, we are moving in the right direction. We have a ways to go. And we will not recover in one month or two months or three months.
“This is going to be a longer-term recovery as far as getting people back into the workplace, and we will continue to do everything we can by job training and working with business and working with industry to get people back into the economy,” Walsh added.
However, the chief solution is for more Americans to get the vaccine shots for themselves, he said.
“The one thing I will say, we’re asking people to get vaccinated, because what you're seeing is where you have high levels of vaccination, you are seeing less levels of Delta variant. There is a correlation there as well,” Walsh said.
Do you find this post of value?
Please share it…