Skip to main content

Jobs & the Economy

Creating jobs and expanding economic opportunity continues to be Democrats’ top priority.

Throughout the 117th Congress, House Democrats have partnered with President Biden to enact policies that expand economic opportunity for businesses, workers, and communities across America. Under President Biden and Congressional Democrats, the unemployment rate is at its lowest in more than 50 years with more than 10 million jobs created, helping more of our people get ahead in today’s economy and Make It In America.
 
Democrats pursue an economic agenda that helps American businesses create good-paying jobs and ensure that workers have the tools not only to get by but to get ahead in our global economy.  From raising the minimum wage to providing skills training and apprenticeship opportunities to ensuring equal pay for equal work, from making childcare more affordable to making it easier to save for retirement, Democrats’ economic policies are aimed at helping workers and their families attain real economic security at every stage of life. 
 
Democrats have also delivered historic legislation investing in infrastructure and greater access to high-speed internet, taking the lead in the clean-energy economy, and supporting innovation and entrepreneurship. The generational Bipartisan Infrastructure Law has already begun to expand economic opportunity for Americans in communities across the country and takes action to repair our nation’s roads, bridges, ports, and other infrastructure while creating nearly 1.5 million jobs annually over the next decade. It contains the first major American investment in climate resilience to help communities upgrade their critical infrastructure and mitigate the impact of climate change-driven extreme weather. Likewise, the Inflation Reduction Act also advances America’s clean energy goals, turbocharging clean energy research and transmission while promoting electric vehicle domestic manufacturing to reduce American dependence on gasoline while revitalizing our auto industry.
 
The CHIPS and Science Act includes bipartisan measures to revitalize the domestic semiconductor industry and spur research. By strengthening domestic supply chains, this law acts directly to accelerate American innovation in the long-term while acting immediately to address inflation and create good paying jobs. House Democrats will continue to champion skills training and education at every level – from early childhood learning through higher education – to prepare our people for success and advancement in a changing economy.  In all of these efforts, Democrats will continue to look for ways to make access to opportunities more equitable and to combat the lingering effects of legalized discrimination that continue to make it harder for minorities to access credit for loans, seek investment capital for startups, and build wealth to pass on to the next generation. 
 
With historic job creation under President Biden, House Democrats will continue to advance policies that expand economic opportunity for working families, support small businesses, and create better-paying jobs.


Related

“Today’s news that the fourth quarter of 2013 saw economic growth at 3.2% ought to be greeted by cautious optimism

“Five years after the Democratic Congress and President Obama enacted the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, we must continue to make women’s equality and access to opportunity a hallmark of the Democratic agenda – and I am proud of our work to make progress in this critical area.  

“This is not a perfect bill, and I am disappointed that it cuts food assistance that is critical for millions of Americans who are at risk of hunger.  

“I think what the President said [was] we want to work together. But if you don't work, I’m not going to be immobilized, I’m not going to forget that I’m elected by all the people to do things.

“I am glad that the President chose to hold his first public event after the State of the Union address in Maryland to highlight local businesses committed to hiring American workers and paying them fair wages. 

Just weeks after the two-year bipartisan budget agreement was passed, Republicans are once again threatening to play games with our economy and create another manufactured crisis by holding the debt limit hostage to unrelated demands.

The fact is that the Senate passed in a very bipartisan way a comprehensive immigration bill. 

MESSAGE FROM THE DEMOCRATIC WHIP

This week the Republican-led House voted for the 48th time to repeal or undermine the Affordable Care Act, instead of acting to renew emergency unemployment insurance, which expired on December 28thfor more than 1.3 million AmericansEvery week Congress fails to act, an additional 72,000 Americans

“Thank you very much Mr. Secretary, Senator Kennedy. Ladies and gentlemen, I am convinced Sen. Kennedy is here [in spirit], and I am convinced that he was absolutely right when he turned to Nancy [Pelosi] and said, and to George Miller who have been such champions of the minimum wage, ‘Yes we just passed the minimum wage, now let’s start working on raising the minimum wage.’ Why did he say that?  

“I am pleased that the President is continuing to make investments that support our manufacturing sector a priority.