According to newly available data, U.S. retail purchases grew by a significant amount in October, surpassing both the level from the prior month and expectations from economists for the period. As summarized by The Washington Post, “Retail sales jumped 1.7 percent in October, a better-than-expected showing and a sharp month-over-month uptick, federal data shows.” Per Dow Jones, analysts had been expecting a 1.5 percent rate of growth in retail sales across October. Meanwhile, September retail sales grew by just 0.8 percent compared to the prior month, meaning that the October rate pretty much doubled the rate from September.
Before Biden won the election, then-President Trump and prominent allies of his predicted that economic ruin would befall the United States if Biden became president. Such has not happened — instead, the U.S. has continued its recovery from the economic ravages connected to the COVID-19 pandemic. Looking back on recent months — June through September, in particular — reports of the numbers of new jobs added have been revised in a positive direction. Overall, the reported, cumulative total of jobs added across those months now stands some 626,000 jobs higher than it did before the revisions — putting the economy even closer to pre-pandemic highs.
For June through September, existing job growth estimates have been revised upwards a cumulative 626,000 jobs.
“If those revisions were themselves a jobs report, they’d be an absolute blockbuster.” @andrewvandam pic.twitter.com/OasxVNdQI5
— Brian Deese (@BrianDeeseNEC) November 16, 2021
This week, Biden signed the bipartisan infrastructure deal that was recently passed by Congress into law. The measure will entail a major boost to the U.S. economy, including another lift for the jobs market. Through a statement on Twitter, Biden himself has characterized the bill as “a once-in-a-generation investment that will create millions of jobs modernizing our infrastructure, turn the climate crisis into an opportunity, and put us on a path to win the 21st century.” Biden added around the time that he signed the bill at the White House that he “truly believe[s] that 50 years from now, historians are going to look back at this moment and say, that’s the moment America began to win the competition of the 21st century.”
The New York Times explains how “[some] of the first bursts of spending will go toward areas that Mr. Biden prioritized in negotiations, such as tens of billions of dollars to improve access to broadband internet and to replace hazardous lead drinking pipes,” adding that “[spending] has already been announced to help clear backlogs at the nation’s ports.” Republicans have prominently melted down over the shipping delays, complaining about what they’ve dubbed “Biden’s blue Christmas” because of the difficulties with shipping holiday-related items.
