Administrative officials are confident that recent hikes in used cars, airfares, and other industries will prove temporary and that employment growth will pick up again as more working-age Americans are vaccinated against Covid-19 while regaining access to childcare during working hours. They say Mr Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion economic aid package, which he signed in March, will boost employment growth in the coming months.
Officials also said it was appropriate for the president to look beyond the current crisis and press ahead with efforts to strengthen the economy over the long term.
The two halves of Mr. Biden’s $ 4 trillion agenda, the American Jobs Plan and the American Families Plan, are based on the return of the economy to a low unemployment rate where essentially any American who wants to work can find a job may, Cecilia Rouse, said the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers in an interview.
“The American rescue plan was rescue,” said Dr. Rouse. “It was intended as a stimulus as we work through this hopefully once a century, if not longer, pandemic. The American Jobs Plan and the American Families Plan say, look, this is behind us, but we knew there were structural problems in our country and in our economy. “
Mr Biden’s plans would raise taxes for high earners and corporations to fund new federal spending on physical infrastructure, care for children and older Americans, expanded access to education, an accelerated transition to low-carbon energy, and more.
These efforts “reflect the empirical evidence that a strong economy depends on a solid foundation of public investment and that investing in workers, families and communities can pay off over decades,” wrote Biden’s advisors. “These plans are not emergency laws. You deal with longstanding challenges. “
The five-page letter focuses on arguments about what drives productivity, wage growth, innovation and equity in the economy. The problems stem from the recession and recovery of the coronavirus, and the Democrats in particular have been committed to addressing them for years.
