WASHINGTON – The latest jobs numbers are in and they’re better than experts expected. The job growth shows a big leap from May and now marks the largest single-month gain in U.S. history. But some economists remain skeptical as the rate of unemployment is still triple what it was before the pandemic hit.
“The United States economy added almost 5 million jobs, in the month of June, shattering all expectation,” President Donald Trump stated in a press conference Thursday.
President Trump boasted a nose-dive in unemployment rates, as the Department of Labor reported the return of 4.8 million jobs, with unemployment dropping to 11.1 percent, down again from May.
The Center for American Progress’ Senior Economist, Gbenga Ajilore, has been watching the employment numbers closely during the pandemic.
“So people were forecasting there would be a job gain of nearly 4 million and it came in at nearly 5 million so that was pretty much a surprise,” Ajilore said.
Ajilore specializes in regional economic development and said across the board for African American, Latino, and Asian unemployment, numbers have dropped. But Ajilore said the latest rates may be misleading.
“So these numbers: the way it’s done, is that it was the second week of June that the survey was done by the Bureau Labor of Statistics. We know that since then that there have been huge spikes in the COVID outbreak, especially with a lot of the southern states like Florida, Texas, Arizona, and even in California have had a huge case of spikes and so we know what sort of impact COVID has in the economy,” Ajilore said, wary of rising COVID-19 cases.
And for temporary layoffs, which dropped in June, Ajilore said people could be switching from temporary to employed, or to permanent unemployment.
Also in June, President Trump’s campaign raised a whopping $131 million. His team said donations in the second quarter have increased by 71 percent compared to the first.
But that dollar amount is still trailing his Democratic opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden, by about $10 million. Biden’s campaign says it raised $141 million in June while emphasizing the small-dollar donor. It’s in part because the Vice President held several high profile virtual campaigns. One with President Barack Obama raised about $11 million.
And these donor dollars signal consistency between donations and poll numbers as most polls show Biden currently leading President Trump by double digits. The latest one by USA Today/Suffolk Poll with Biden up by 12 percentage points.
“As other leaders in other countries took the necessary steps to get the virus under control, Donald Trump failed us,” Biden said.
President Trump is upping attacks on his November opponent as well, calling Biden a “puppet” while touting his own campaign promises, like the economy.
“Our economy is roaring back, it’s coming back extremely strong,” the president said.
Ajilore also said when it comes to the economy and jobs, some of the US Congress’ COVID-19 aid packages like with PPPLoans and unemployment benefits are about to end, meaning this drop in unemployment might reverse course if Congress doesn’t act again and pass more stimulus bills.