The Labor Department\u2019s report that the economy added 559,000 jobs in May, an acceleration from April, buoyed Democrats and the Biden administration on Friday, adding new fuel to the president\u2019s claims that vaccinations and his economic program are beginning to get the economy back on track after a halting recovery from pandemic recession.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is historic progress,\u201d Mr. Biden said in remarks from Rehoboth Beach, Del. \u201cProgress that\u2019s pulling our economy out of the worst crisis it\u2019s been in in 100 years.\u201d<\/p>\n
He went on to claim credit for that progress, both from his administration\u2019s campaign to ramp up America\u2019s vaccine production and distribution and from the $1.9 trillion economic aid legislation he signed into law in March.<\/p>\n
\u201cNone of this success is an accident, it isn\u2019t,\u201d Mr. Biden said, hailing \u201cthe cooperation, the American people in responding to my effort to get covered under control, wearing masks conditioning and getting vaccinated. And it\u2019s no small part of the bold action we took by passing the American rescue plan.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the report, which fell short of analyst expectations for the second straight month and showed a slight shrinkage in the labor force, also provided fodder for Republican critics of the president. They say enhanced unemployment benefits \u2014 which were extended by Mr. Biden\u2019s aid legislation in March \u2014 are discouraging workers from returning to jobs and holding back what could be an even faster recovery.<\/p>\n
\u201cLong-term unemployment is higher than when the pandemic started, and labor force participation mirrors the stagnant 1970s,\u201d Representative Kevin Brady, the top Republican on the Ways and Means Committee, said in a news release. \u201cIt\u2019s time for President Biden to abandon his attack on American jobs, his tax increases, his anti-growth regulations and his obsession with more emergency spending and endless government checks.\u201d<\/p>\n
After the April report fell substantially short of expectations, Republican governors across the country moved to prematurely end the $300-per-week supplemental unemployment benefits that began under President Donald J. Trump and are scheduled to continue through September under Mr. Biden\u2019s aid package.<\/p>\n
Mr. Biden said Friday those benefits had helped Americans weather the crisis but noted they expire in 90 days. \u201cThat makes sense,\u201d he said, \u201cit expires in 90 days.\u201d<\/p>\n
White House economists said last month there was not yet evidence in the numbers that the supplement was discouraging work, pointing instead to constraints like school closures and child care issues keeping women with children from returning to work, along with a large number of working-age Americans who had not been fully vaccinated. Administration economists doubled down on that reading on Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is too soon to conclude that labor supply issues are holding back the long-term path of the recovery,\u201d the chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, Cecilia Rouse, wrote in a blog post on Friday morning.<\/p>\n
Democratic leaders in Congress continued to push for the unemployment benefits to continue as scheduled, and for lawmakers to move to enact the rest of Mr. Biden\u2019s $4 trillion economic agenda.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe American people need all the support they can get, especially Black and Hispanic communities that were among the hardest hit by the pandemic,\u201d Representative Don Beyer of Virginia, the chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, said in a news release. \u201cLawmakers must step up. That includes continuing enhanced UI to support workers seeking jobs and Congress passing President Biden\u2019s Jobs and Families Plans.\u201d<\/p>\n