WASHINGTON – Amid fears of a looming recession, President Joe Biden hit the road Thursday for Springfield, Virginia to tout his economic wins.
“Manufacturing jobs continue to go up stronger than any time in the last 40 years,” Biden said.
Biden’s remarks come as the nation’s gross domestic product grew at an annual pace of 2.9%.
“We got some excellent news about the state of the economy,” said Bharat Ramamurti, the deputy director of the White House National Economic Council, about the stronger-than-expected last quarter.
Ramamurti said that aside from the latest GDP numbers, the jobless claims also dropped and this, he said, was a sign the country is getting back on track.
“I can say with confidence is we are not close to a recession right now to the jobless claims,” Ramamurti said. “Claims for unemployment insurance are very very low by historical standards.”
Some investors believe the new data won’t change the minds of the Federal Reserve, which could raise interest rates again next week in an effort to curb inflation.
“Regardless of what the Federal Reserve does, we’re going to keep building on the president’s plan of re-growing the economy from the bottom up and the middle out,” Ramamurti said.