Tobin Harshaw, Columnist

Even a Winning Jobs Report Is a Loser for Biden

The economy is doing really well for almost everyone, so why don’t Americans see it that way?

March 10, 2024 at 12:00 PM UTC

Tobin Harshaw is a Bloomberg Opinion senior editor and columnist on national security and military affairs. Previously, he was deputy editor at the op-ed page of the New York Times and the newspaper’s letters editor.

He can’t get no respect.
Photographer: Bonnie Cash/UPI/Bloomberg

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Here is something that sounds like bad news, but is actually good news — that might still be bad news for Joe Biden. I know: It’s a lot. Let’s unpack it. “The US jobless rate climbed to a two-year high in February,” writes Bloomberg News’s Augusta Saraiva, “the report illustrates a labor market that is gradually downshifting, with more moderate job and pay gains.” Here is why it is good news: