49,000 Jobs Added In January, Unemployment Rate Drops To 6.3%, Job Creators Network Reacts

Today, the U.S. Department of Labor released its monthly jobs report. The US economy gained 49,000 jobs in January and the unemployment rate dropped from 6.7% to 6.3%. December job losses were adjusted up significantly – to 227,000. 4.3 million left the workforce in addition to the nearly 10 million jobs lost since February 2020.

“Our economy is still in a weak position,” said Alfredo Ortiz, President and CEO of the Job Creators Network (JCN).  “Governors and Mayors need to continue reopening the economy and reopen schools. Teachers unions in major cities like Chicago and Los Angeles are continuing to resist in-classroom instruction, and that’s unacceptable. President Biden should use the bully pulpit to demand that schools reopen.  Many who have left the labor force are women because they have had to stay home to take care of their kids from the school shutdowns. We should be calling President Biden ‘No School Joe’ until he starts exercising real leadership on this issue. Over time, we will begin making progress as more and more Americans receive the vaccine.  That’s why JCN launched its “Bring Small Businesses Back” campaign, which calls on all Americans to get the Covid vaccine when it’s available. By taking the vaccine, Americans will be putting a shot in the arm of small business.  We also need to strongly resist President Biden’s left-wing agenda, and that starts with fighting a $15 minimum wage. A better approach is to expand the earned income tax credit (EITC), which supplements low-income wages through the tax code, rewarding work without punishing small businesses. Expanding the EITC is a common-sense solution both parties can rally around.”

This week, The Hill published Mr. Ortiz’s op-ed, Earned income tax credit is unifying alternative to hiking minimum wage. To read it, click here. 

On January 22, JCN released a backgrounder, “3 Days of Biden EO’s = Million of Jobs Lost.”  To read and share the backgrounder, click here.