A significant portion of the jobs that have been added to the U.S. economy under Biden consists of government jobs and other public sector positions, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
As the Daily Caller reports, a total of 327,000 public sector jobs have been added to the economy from January to August of 2023, accounting for 17.4% of all jobs. During the same period of time in 2022, only about 175,000 public sector jobs were added, amounting to just 5% of all jobs. Overall job growth has also been slower in 2023, with a total of 1,884,000 jobs added this year compared to 3,590,000 jobs added during the same period in 2022.
In August, the economy added 187,000 nonfarm payroll jobs, and the unemployment rate rose to 3.8%. In addition, the overall number of jobs added in the months of June and July have since been revised down from previous totals, at just 105,000 in June and 157,000 in July; the previously-reported totals were 185,000 and 187,000, respectively.
The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis notes that the rise in government jobs is directly tied to the drastic increase in government spending. The first quarter of 2020 saw a federal government expenditure of $4.88 trillion; the second quarter of 2023 saw a $6.48 trillion expenditure.
Overall economic growth is also not as strong as previous estimates believed, with BLS revising its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) estimate in August down from 2.4% to 2.1%. Inflation also rose year-over-year in August, at 3.7% after 3.2% in July and 3.0% in June.