Washington—Heritage Action for America released the following statement from Executive Director Jessica Anderson addressing today’s unemployment figures:
This morning, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced the U.S. added 2.5 million jobs in May, despite economists’ prediction of losing more than 7 million jobs, the greatest employment report of all time. Today’s news shows that reopening states has been a major win for the American people.Americans nationwide have raised their voices and told their governors that economic recovery is only possible when we open American society. Working closely with The Heritage Foundation’s National Coronavirus Recovery Commission, Heritage Action launched a petition to Open American Society. To date, more than 100,000 American have signed the petition. While some governors refused to listen for far too long, every state has now started to reopen. These reopenings have brought millions of Americans back to work, spurring this large increase in employment.
While some in Congress think that runaway federal spending led to this increase, the credit goes to the states and policies that help preserve the employer-employee relationship. Instead of pushing for more misdirected federal stimulus, the nation should focus on what works. We have to keep pushing to reopen states further and bring more Americans back to work — the fight isn’t over.