The July jobs report will give lawmakers a read on the strength of the U.S. economy as COVID-19 cases climb and multitrillion spending plans make their way through Congress.
Texas Rep. Kevin Brady, the top Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee, told FOX Business that he is looking at three key indicators within the report as measures of how well the U.S. economy is recovering under the current administration’s policies.
One of those indicators is wages, which Brady noted have grown at a slower pace than inflation throughout the year. The consequence has been a reduction in Americans’ purchasing power.
However, “real average hourly earnings” for production and nonsupervisory employees declined by 2.2% year over year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Consumer prices (CPI-U) increased 5.3% for the year that ended in June.
“I’m convinced the reason economic optimism is down, and consumer sentiment is down, and the president’s net job approval on the economy is down, is because people are seeing rising prices in nearly every aspect of their lives,” Brady told FOX Business.
