Today, Congressman Don Beyer (D-VA), Chairman of the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee (JEC), released the following statement after the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that nonfarm payroll employment increased by 315,000 in August, labor force participation increased to 62.4%, and the unemployment rate increased to 3.7%. The unemployment rate is now 6.4% for Black workers, 4.5% for Hispanic workers, 2.8% for Asian workers and 4.9% (not seasonally adjusted) for American Indian and Alaska Native workers.

“Today’s jobs report underscores the strength and resilience of the U.S. economy. With Labor Day right around the corner, when we honor workers and their extraordinary contributions to this country, this jobs report—and the broader trend of historic job growth under President Biden—are reason to celebrate.

“Labor force participation is up sharply as more workers, especially women, rejoined the workforce. This is even more remarkable given that the United States had already brought back more than all of the jobs lost during the pandemic recession. Although the unemployment rate ticked up slightly, it was driven primarily by this large increase in workers coming back into the labor force. More than 9.7 million jobs have been added under President Biden, and demand for workers remains high as Democrats’ investments in workers, families and businesses drive more sustainable and broadly shared growth.

“The strength and speed of this recovery is the result of strong leadership and good economic policy that put workers and families first. This includes the American Rescue Plan, which bolstered households and small businesses through the worst of the pandemic and jumpstarted our economic recovery, and the Inflation Reduction Act, which will cut health care costs, invest in clean energy and reduce the deficit to bring down inflation. It includes the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which will improve domestic supply chains and create good jobs, and the CHIPS and Sciences Act, which will bolster domestic manufacturing and promote innovation and global competitiveness. Democrats continue to put workers and families over corporate interests, and today’s data are the latest to show that our economic agenda is working.

“While inflation is depriving workers and families of the full benefits of our economic recovery, Democrats are taking action to cut costs and reduce inflation now and into the future. Evidence shows signs that inflation is slowing, and gas prices have fallen 24% since peaking in June.

“Republicans have continued to obstruct efforts to put the economy on the right path and have offered no solutions of their own. I invite my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to work with us to promote a stronger economy—now and for the long term.”