China’s state-run Global Times on Monday taunted the White House over the “alarming” and “disappointing” jobs report from April, suggesting the unexpectedly weak 266,000 jobs created “cast doubt over the recovery path of the world’s biggest economy.”
The Global Times was not far from the general response to the April report from U.S. analysts but spared only a few lines to discuss what the report actually said. Instead, it focused on dire predictions of what the future might hold if America’s recovery from the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic is “bumpier than many expected.”
The Global Times predicted the economy will “pose the greatest test for U.S. President Joe Biden that will likely consume much of his presidency, even though he has vowed to restore U.S. leadership on the global stage and step up ‘competition’ with China.”
“So far, the Biden administration does not appear to have a solution for the more fundamental problems other than calling for more stimulus measures to prop up growth,” the editorial trolled.
The Chinese paper found it laughable that Biden could talk about competing with China when his administration is spending vast sums of money on paying Americans not to work:
Nevertheless, judging from the latest data, economic relief measures may have just failed its purpose of reviving the jobs market. According to U.S. media analysis, a combination of Covid-19 fear and the unemployment benefits has caused many U.S. workers hesitant about taking jobs. As some U.S. media outlets noted, the U.S. government has basically paid workers to stay at home because unemployment checks are bigger than wages in many cases. Meanwhile, some U.S. businesses are reportedly having a hard time finding workers.
While observers generally predict that the labor force will eventually return with the vaccination campaign progressing and the society returning to normalcy, the disappointing jobs report may actually point to the growing economic inequality, a more acute problem that is exacerbating the division in the American society.
The most affluent group has benefited most from the overall economic recovery, stock market rally and even government stimulus, while millions of low-income people saw their incomes shrink and relied on government funds to make ends meet. What’s more worrisome is that a raft of services and other low-paying jobs may have vanished forever due to the pandemic. Such inequality of social resources is being reflected in the jobs market, which will overshadow the recovery progress and long-term growth of the U.S. economy.
The boilerplate about “income inequality” reads like a deliberate effort to goad Biden and his Democrat Party into slamming the American economy with even higher taxes and throwing even more money into wealth redistribution programs, a strategy that would indeed leave Beijing with very little to fear from the U.S. in terms of industrial competition for years to come.