U.S. Economy ‘On the Move,’ Biden Says Following Jobs Report

(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. economy has “gone from being on the mend to on the move,” President Joe Biden said, even as he conceded inflation was still a challenge after a solid March jobs report showed continued strength in the U.S. labor market.

“People are making more money, they're finding better jobs, and -- after decades of being mistreated and paid too little -- more and more American workers have real power now,” Biden said in remarks at the White House on Friday.

“The job is not finished,” he added. “We need to do more to get prices under control,” he said in reference to an inflation rate running at the highest in four decades.

The president spoke hours after data showing a further tightening in the labor market, with the U.S adding 431,000 jobs in March, sending the unemployment rate down to 3.6%, just above the pre-pandemic low. Wage growth accelerated, though it still trails inflation.

“That means that over the last three months, the economy has created more than a half million, more than 500,000, jobs a month,” Biden said.

Supply Pressures

The data bolstered bets on the Federal Reserve to use aggressive interest-rate hikes to tackle the surge in living costs. Short-term Treasury yields rose past longer-term ones -- a so-called yield-curve inversion that's stoked debate over whether Fed tightening may in time trigger a recession. Two-year yields jumped to 2.44% as of 10:37 a.m. in New York, up more than a percentage point in just the past month.

Biden has regularly pointed to robust job growth as evidence of his economic stewardship and a strong recovery from the pandemic downturn, aiming to blunt criticism of overheated inflation and supply-chain woes.

Getting Americans back to work will “help ease the supply pressures we've seen and that's good news for fighting inflation,” Biden said.

Biden also said his budget -- unveiled earlier this week -- would help address deficits and inflation if adopted by lawmakers. The document calls for tax hikes on corporations and the wealthiest Americans, including a new minimum levy that would hit unrealized earnings of households worth over $100 million.

“We have to be willing to do something previous administrations and Republicans today refuse to do -- we need to make sure corporations and the super wealthy begin to pay their fair share,” Biden said.

The so-called “billionaires minimum tax” has received a chilly reception from Republicans and some Democrats on Capitol Hill who have argued against taxing unrealized gains on investments and real-estate. Biden said that opponents could not “argue that 20% for a billionaire is unfair.”