Joe Biden was all geared up to go out last week and boast about the one million jobs the economy had added in April. But then the actual numbers came out, and . . . psych! Only 266,000 new jobs, 73 percent fewer than Biden was planning to brag about!
But not to worry, Joe: The New York Times has got your back!
Appearing on today's Morning Joe, Elisabeth Bumiller, the paper's Washington bureau chief, claimed, in a strangely stumbling statement, that:
"There is a sense that there was a lot of, there was a, the numbers were very, were, were a real fluke. They could be adjusted next month and it could be a very different story."
Yeah, that's it: wait until next month!
It's not unusual, in fact, for jobs reports to be revised. But Bumiller's reflexive suggestion that they were likely to be revised up was telling. Think she would have made the same suggestion if a Republican president had suffered such a disappointing jobs report?
The show also featured a clip of Biden from his remarks last Friday, which were originally intended to be a brag-a-thon but turned into an exercise in excuse-making. Among other things, Biden said:
"It's easy to say, the line has been because of the generous employment benefits, that it's a major factor in labor shortages. We're going to make it clear that anyone who is collecting unemployment who is offered a suitable job must take the job or lose their unemployment benefits."
Yeah, it's "easy to say," Joe, because it's so obviously true. Many people aren't choosing to work since they can make more staying home and collecting unemployment!
And which are you taking on our over-under of 17 for the number of people the Biden administration will kick off unemployment for refusing to take a suitable job offer?
Note also that Joe Scarborough, despite having opened the segment by reporting what he was hearing about people choosing not work because they could make more on unemployment, rode to Bumiller's defense on her claim that the explanation of the bad jobs number was "more complicated." Echoed Joe: "far more complicated."
Kudos to Willie Geist for prefacing his question to Bumiller by stating the obvious truth: "many people are not accepting a job —in this moment at least —that will pay them less than they’re currently getting from the federal government."
Here is Bumiller's rationalizing response:
Right. There's also just, I think, Biden made the point that this is not just about those that get enhanced unemployment checks that people are getting, and the stimulus. It’s also fear, of just going back into the economy, going back into crowded restaurants. The jobs numbers are very interesting, though. There was an uptick in the number of restaurant jobs. There was a loss of jobs in grocery stores. So the question is, are people not shopping for groceries as much anymore? Are they going to restaurants?
The New York Times's Elisabeth Bumiller claiming last month's bad jobs number was a "real fluke" was sponsored in part by Farmers Insurance, General Motors, makers of Buick, and Skechers.
Here's the transcript. Click "expand" to read more.
MSNBC
Morning Joe
5/11/21
6:20 am EDTWILLIE GEIST: It is a fact that there's a shortage in labor supply. Elizabeth Bumiller, if you look around, ask around, talk to people. If you read about it, restaurant owners say a job that would usually bring in a hundred applications, a couple trickle in. Some people have moved on to different careers or sort of changed their lives during the pandemic. But many people are not accepting a job—in this moment at least—that will pay them less than they’re currently getting from the federal government.
ELISABETH BUMILLER: Right. There's also just, I think, Biden made the point that this is not just about those that get enhanced unemployment checks that people are getting, and the stimulus. It’s also fear, of just going back into the economy, going back into crowded restaurants. The jobs numbers are very interesting, though. There was an uptick in the number of restaurant jobs. There was a loss of jobs in grocery stores. So the question is, are people not shopping for groceries as much anymore? Are they going to restaurants?
The White House was very blindsided by those numbers. They were throwing out their talking points and rewriting them very quickly last Friday. Because it was not at all what they expected.
There is a sense that there was a lot of, there was a, the numbers were very, were, were a real fluke. They could be adjusted next month and it could be a very different story. But for now, of course, the Republicans had a field day and said, this is because those unemployment benefits are much too generous and people just don’t want to return to work. I think it’s more complicated than that.
JOE SCARBOROUGH: It’s far more complicated than that, Mika. That’s what we hear anecdotally.
