DAMAGE CONTROL: Biden tries to put horrific jobs numbers ‘in perspective’

He said that the jobs numbers shows even more how essential his American Rescue Plan, or as conservatives are beginning to call it, the American Bankruptcy Plan, really is. Biden blamed the Trump administration for the current economic turmoil.

"Our efforts are starting to work but the climb is steep and we still have a long way to go," Biden said.

He said that the report reinforces the real truth "that middle class people have been left out, saying "we're still digging out of an economic collapse that cost us 22 million jobs." Biden said Trump mismanaged both the economy and the virus, showing that even after 100 days in office, Biden is still trying to wage battles with the previous president.

"State and local governments have to balance their budgets," Biden said, noting that they had to layoff many municipal employees. Money will be pouring into states, he said, from the American Rescue Plan, that will help states hire people back.

"Restaurants and bars are coming back, too, he said. Many restaurant and bar owners have been unable to get workers to come back to work because of the long-term unemployment assistance, which doesn't run out until September.

"We're going to help schools and children and childcare centers across the country as well accelerate reopening and that's underway" Biden said.

"This is gonna continue to improve," he said. "Thank goodness we passed the American Rescue Plan, and help is on the way, and more help is needed."

"Today's report is a rebuttal of the loose talk that Americans just don't want to work. I know some employers are having trouble filling jobs. But what this report shows is that there's a much bigger problem, not withstanding the commentary you might have heard this morning.

"It is that our economy still has 8 million fewer jobs than when this pandemic started. The data shows that more workers, more workers are looking for jobs in and many can't find them. While jobs are coming back, there's still millions of people out there looking for work."

Biden leaned into his folksy wisdom, bringing up the nobility of work, and his intention to vaccinate the nation so that people could go back to work.

"The idea that they don't wanna work, most working class, middle class people that I know think the way my dad did. He used to say and I know I'm repeating myself but I'm going to continue to because I think it's critical: A job is a lot more than a paycheck, he'd say, Joey, it's about your respect, your dignity, your place in the community.

"More than a paycheck, it's people's pride, it's about being able to look your child in the eye and say 'honey, it's going to be okay.' I've never forgotten that, and I've never forgotten those folks I grew up with. I think about them every day as president. They didn't have a lot of money, but they busted their necks their whole lives to take care of their families. And all they ever wanted was a shot, a fair shot of making it."

The jobs report makes it clear, he said, that "we've got too much work to do," and said the American Rescue Plan is to rescue the nation, and the jobs plan is to "build back better."

As Biden pumps more and more money into the economy, the jobs numbers, he said, reflects that the timeline for the spending is over a year's term. This new span would give the administration more leeway to meet expectations.

"I'm confident that we can do this because there's nothing beyond the capacity of the American people," he said.

He took a question about the long-term unemployment benefits, saying that he didn't think that they had any impact on people wanting to go back to work.