President Biden said Friday he takes no responsibility for the ongoing inflation crisis in the country, as he highlighted a stronger-than-expected January jobs report.
The U.S. economy added 517,000 jobs in January, more than double what was expected.
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“Do you take any blame for inflation?” one reporter asked.
“No,” Biden responded.
“Remember what the economy was like when I got here? Jobs were hemorrhaging, inflation was rising. We weren’t manufacturing a damn thing here. We were in real economic difficulty. That’s why I don’t,” the president said.
The consumer price index for January 2021, when President Biden took office, was 1.4%. The most recent inflation reading, for December 2022, was 6.5% year over year.
US JOB GROWTH UNEXPECTEDLY SURGES IN JANUARY AS ECONOMY ADDS 517,000 NEW POSITIONS
Experts at the Heritage Foundation analyzed consumer prices and interest rates and found in their latest report released Thursday that the average American household has lost the equivalent of $7,400 in annual income since Biden’s inauguration Jan. 20, 2021.
The income loss represents an increase of $200 from September, when the think tank’s research found a $7,200 decline in annual income for the average American household dating back to the start of Biden’s term.
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Over the last year, Fed policymakers voted to raise interest rates seven straight times to a range of 4.25% to 4.5%. Economists expect another rate hike when Fed’s rate-setting committee concludes a two-day meeting on Feb. 1.
Despite the ongoing struggle to control inflation, January did see a surprising comeback in the job market.
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Employers added 517,000 jobs in January, the Labor Department said in its monthly payroll report released Friday, easily topping the 185,000 jobs forecast by Refinitiv economists. It marked the best month for job creation since July.
The unemployment rate, meanwhile, unexpectedly dropped to 3.4%, the lowest level since 1969.
FOX Business’ Megan Henney and Eric Revell contributed to this report.