Biden makes another massive blunder as he falsely claims $2T infrastructure plan will create 16 million jobs

JOE Biden made a huge blunder by falsely claiming that his $2.2 trillion infrastructure plan would create 16 million jobs during a speech on Wednesday.

The gaffe came as the president was speaking in Lake Charles, Louisiana earlier this week as he attempts to drum up support for his American Jobs Plan.


During the address, Biden significantly misstated estimates on how many jobs the plan would create, claiming it would add 16 million – which is well above actual projections.

"All the economists, including the liberal as well as the conservative think tanks, point out we will create up to 16 million good-paying jobs," Biden said.

"Not $8 an hour or $12 an hour or $15 an hour. Prevailing wage jobs, wages you can raise a family on. My dad would say, just a little bit of breathing room after everything’s paid."

The president didn't specify which reports or studies made the projection.

However, his remarks appeared to reference a study carried out by Moody's Analytics, which actually projected a far smaller number.

The report, released in April, determined the US economy would add around 16.3 million jobs through 2030 regardless of whether Biden's American Jobs Plan passed.

Moody's found the economy would add roughly 2.7 million more jobs, or about 19 million in total if the infrastructure plan is implemented.

Biden made a similar reference to the Moody's study at an event earlier this week, Fox News reported.

"You have Moody’s talking about increasing it up to — I don’t know what the most recent one is — 16 million new jobs," Biden said. "It’s about growth, not stunting growth."

Biden also said at an event in early April – around the time the report was released – that "independent analysis" showed that his plan would generate 19 million jobs.

The Moody's report has been misrepresented by White House officials several times over the last few weeks.

White House National Economic Council Brian Deese made similar remarks about the plan creating 19 million jobs during an appearance on Fox and attributed that projection to Moody's.

Jen Psaki, the White House Press Secretary, later clarified the administration's comments during a press briefing on April 6.

"Moody’s ran an analysis that showed that the economy would create 19 million jobs over the next decade if Congress passes the American Jobs Plan — almost 3 million more than if it doesn’t," Psaki said.

"So that is the — that is what the impact would be of the American Jobs Plan: 2.7 million, to be totally clear."

The Biden administration suffered a blow to its hopes of a speedy labor-market recovery on Friday when a report found that the economy added just 266,000 jobs last month.

Coinciding with America's reopening, the figure fell far below the predicted number of more than a million.

The unemployment rate actually from six percent up to 6.1 percent, contrary to expectations. However part of the reason for this is because hundreds of thousands of people joined the workforce.

The unemployment rate is also down drastically from its historic pandemic peak of 14.8 in April 2020.

The report, released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, was expected to show strong payroll growth after widespread vaccinations spurred Americans to dine out and spend time outdoors after months of lockdowns.

But Nick Bunker, economic research director at Indeed Hiring Lab, told NBC the report "might be one of the most disappointing jobs reports of all time."

"The labor market needs to gain 8.2 million jobs to put us back where we were pre-pandemic, not accounting for the jobs that would have been created if the pandemic never happened.

"Every month job gains don’t accelerate puts us further behind," he said.

Overall, around 16 million Americans are still claiming unemployment benefits – 12 million of whom are on federal pandemic emergency programs, which expire in September.

Biden is due to speak from the White House Friday following the release of the highly anticipated jobs reports.

He is likely to use the figures to double down on his his argument to pass the American Jobs and American Infrastructure plans, which he says can create jobs in everything from construction to green energy.

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