Thanks to President Biden and Democrats, Georgia is Getting Back to Work

Just eight months since President Joe Biden and Senators Reverend Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff took office, our economy is booming back thanks to the critical relief delivered from the American Rescue Plan — and no thanks to Georgia Republicans, who unanimously opposed the plan. On Friday, the U.S. Department of Labor announced that nonfarm payrolls increased by a whopping 943,000 jobs in July. This coincides with an acceleration in hiring and a trending rise in wages across the state.

Now, as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal makes its way through Congress, leaders across the state — including labor unions, mayors, and Brian Kemp’s own Transportation Commissioner — have thrown their support behind this historic investment in bringing more good-paying jobs to Georgia and rebuilding our state’s core infrastructure.

“The president’s economic plan is working, and Georgians are returning to the workforce with higher-paying jobs as a result,” said Rhyan Lake, spokeswoman for the Democratic Party of Georgia. “Georgia Democrats are to thank for passing the American Rescue Plan — which put relief directly into the hands of the families, workers, and small businesses who needed it most. But if Brian Kemp, Georgia Republicans in Congress, and the entire GOP Senate field had their way, struggling Georgians would not have gotten the help they needed to get back on their feet. Now, as the economy continues to recover from the pandemic, it’s time to invest in a generation of good-paying, union jobs across the Peach State; revitalize our roads, bridges, highways, and transportation; and position our state to compete and win the 21st century by passing President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal.” 

Here’s a look at the economic progress our country has made thanks to the leadership of President Biden, Senators Ossoff and Reverend Warnock, and Representatives Bishop, Bourdeaux, Johnson, McBath, Scott, and Williams: 

• The unemployment rate fell to 5.4 percent in July, down from 5.9 percent in June, and the United States has now recovered approximately 75 percent of jobs lost during the pandemic. 

• In the past six months, the economy has gone from creating only 60,000 new jobs a month to creating 60,000 jobs roughly every two days. In total, the economy has added a record-shattering four million jobs since the president took office.

• The average number of new unemployment insurance claims has been cut by more than half and small business optimism has returned to its 2019 average. 

• Independent projections from the CBO, the IMF, the Federal Reserve, the World Bank, the OECD, and many others all forecast America this year reaching the highest levels of economic growth in nearly four decades.  

• The economy has grown at a 6.4 percent annualized rate so far this year—far higher than forecasters had predicted at the end of last year.

• Paychecks are growing at the strongest rate since 2006, as companies are competing for workers and boosting wages as a result.

• New analysis by the Urban Institute estimates that President Biden’s American Rescue Plan will lead to a nearly 45 percent decline in the number of Americans living in poverty this year. 

• Approximately 90 percent of families with children will get an average tax cut of $4,380 this year thanks to the American Rescue Plan. The Child Tax Credit could help cut child poverty in half by next year.

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