WASHINGTON – Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), ranking member of the Joint Economic Committee, issued the following statement in response to the U.S. Labor Department May 2021 report:

“The economy added 559,000 payroll jobs in May, the second consecutive employment report that underperformed the economy’s potential. After a long year of businesses and communities persevering through the hardships of the pandemic, vaccines are helping to bring jobs back, restore consumer confidence, and allow Americans to once again come together safely. However, enhanced unemployment benefits that encourage workers to remain unemployed, along with working parents’ continued trouble accessing childcare due to increased costs and regulations faced by childcare centers, still hinder our recovery. Removing these barriers to work is essential to achieving our pre-pandemic way of life.”