Biden: Low Jobs Number Shows 'We Have a Long Way to Go'

The Biden administration moved quickly on Friday to allay concerns that a surprisingly weak jobs report issued by the Bureau of Labor Statistics suggests that the American Rescue Plan, a $1.9 trillion stimulus package that became law in March, is failing in its goal of revitalizing the economy. 

Economists and policymakers in the U.S. were stunned Friday morning when the BLS reported that the U.S. economy, thought to be expanding at a rapid pace, added only 266,000 jobs in April. That was far short of the 1 million that many experts had been projecting and, combined with a downward revision of the jobs estimates from February and March, sparked concerns that the U.S. economy's recovery from the pandemic-induced recession might be slowing down.  During a White House briefing, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that the purpose of the rescue plan had been "to provide enough relief for Americans to make it to the other side of the pandemic, with the foundations of their lives intact," and advocated for the administration's additional spending packages. She struck an optimistic note, saying, "I believe we will reach full employment next year. But today's numbers also show that we're not yet finished."  The unemployment rate rose slightly, from 6% to 6.1%, reflecting the 9.8 million Americans currently seeking employment who are unable to find it. Both numbers are far lower than they were during the worst of the recession, but remain well above the 3.5% unemployment rate and the 5.7 million unemployed recorded in February 2020, the month before COVID-19 began surging through the country.