Biden calls participation 'the really good news' in Friday's jobs report
The White House took a victory lap after Friday’s jobs report posted a surprise beat with new data showing the economy added 253,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in April while the unemployment rate dropped to 3.4%.
The report was largely good news all around for Biden and his top aides. But the administration zeroed in on one number in particular: an increase in labor participation among workers aged 25 to 54, or so-called "prime age" workers.
"The really good news is working age Americans are participating in the labor force at the highest rate in 15 years, not just since the pandemic," President Biden said Friday afternoon during a cabinet meeting focused on implementing his economic agenda.
The prime-age labor force participation rate stood at 83.3% in April, the highest since March 2008. This increase also pushed prime age participation above the Trump-era high of 83.1% seen in Jan. 2020 on the eve of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The White House was also enthusiastic about a host of other numbers in the report, including the overall unemployment rate, which is now at its lowest level in 50 years, as well as a Black employment rate, which fell to 4.7% in April. The latter reading marks a record since the measure was first introduced in 1972.
The Black unemployment rate is something Biden and his aides have focused on since the beginning of his administration but the attention Friday returned again and again to participation.
"Workers' ages 25 to 54 are being attracted back into the labor force because it's a great time to get a job," added Bharat Ramamurti, the deputy director of Biden's National Economic Council, during an interview with Yahoo Finance Live on Friday morning. "We think that's a very positive story."
Preston Mui, an economist at Employ America, wrote in a note Friday this uptick in prime age participation shows, "that the answer to 'worker shortages' is to bring people off of the sidelines into the labor market, not to destroy labor demand and increase job losses. Running the labor market hot gradually boosts labor force participation."
On the other side of the aisle, a top Republican seized on revisions to the jobs gains in previous months to argue that the labor market isn’t as strong as it's been cracked up to be.
March data was revised to show that 71,000 fewer jobs were created than previously reported while February's results were lowered by 78,000 jobs. Both months still show positive job growth on net, just at a lower level than previously reported.
"The headline number of today's jobs report covers up the underlying data showing that job creation in February and March was far below what was originally reported," said House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO) in a statement.
Ramamurti nevertheless touted the strength of both this month’s report as well as "several in a row at this point" during Friday's interview, adding that he feels confident that the overall economic picture is bright and — failing some disruption like a debt ceiling crisis — a recession can be avoided.
"I think we can continue to see that balancing act over the next several months," he said.
Ben Werschkul is Washington correspondent for Yahoo Finance.
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