A senior research fellow in budget and entitlements at The Heritage Foundation said the April jobs report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics showing the unemployment rate at 3.4% is mediocre.
Rachel Greszler, who focuses on retirement and labor policies for the public policy research institute in Washington, D.C., said a strong demand for workers helps the economy, according to a Heritage Foundation news release. Greszler called on the Biden administration and Congress to "reduce the consequences of a potential recession” by enacting policies that benefit the act of working and workers’ rights.
“Today’s lackluster employment report comes alongside slowing economic growth and serious risks of a recession in 2023,” Greszler said in the Heritage Foundation release. “As the Federal Reserve continues its efforts to bring down inflation caused by trillions of dollars in excessive government spending, having good labor policies in place is incredibly important.”
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported May 5 that “total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 253,000 in April.” Employment was up “in professional and business services, health care, leisure and hospitality and social assistance,” the report said.
There were 5.7 million unemployed in April, the BLS report said. Professional and business services added 43,000 jobs; health care added 40,000 jobs; and leisure and hospitality saw 31,000 jobs added.
“In April, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 16 cents, or 0.5%, to $33.36,” the BLS report said. “Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 4.4%. In April, average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees rose by 11 cents, or 0.4%, to $28.62.”
Greszler said several things are “holding back jobs and economic output,” with 2 million fewer people working now than at pre-pandemic employment rates, including welfare-without-work policies, student loan pauses and forgiveness and an agenda benefitting union bosses, The Heritage Foundation reported.
Deputy Secretary of Labor Julie Su has been nominated to lead the U.S. Department of Labor. Greszler said Su would be a threat to workers if she is confirmed by the U.S. Senate, according to Heritage Foundation. Su’s “California’s job-destroying policies” would go nationwide, Greszler said.
“If confirmed to lead the U.S. Department of Labor, Su would oversee the finalization of an independent contractor rule that will restrict the job opportunities and incomes of many of the 60 million Americans who performed independent work last year,” Greszler said, according to Heritage Foundation.
U.S. Sen. John Thune, R- S.D., said Su was the wrong choice to lead the department for several reasons, according to an April 20 news release. He said when she was secretary of labor for California she enabled fraud during the COVID-19 pandemic “by directing the department to stop checking key eligibility requirements for individuals making unemployment claims.”
Tammy McCutchen, who was the Wage and Hour administrator at the Labor Department under President George W. Bush, said Su would kill the independent workforce in an opinion article for the Washington Examiner.
“Choosing the freedom and flexibility of independent work over the control that employers must exercise is a rational choice,” McCutchen said in the Washington Examiner opinion article. “I cannot believe that 65 million workers are somehow too dumb to understand they are not covered by employment laws or that they were bamboozled or forced into working independently. As Labor Secretary, Su will have the power to kill the independent workforce. The Senate must reject her confirmation.”
