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In some ways, the April jobs report resembled an optical illusion, with people making differing observations from a dataset that didn't fit into a clean narrative.
In this case, Democrats and Republicans came to opposite conclusions about the report and what it means for the way forward in healing an economy battered by the pandemic.
The Friday report showed the economy recovered 266,000 jobs, a smaller amount defying expectations of a massive job surge on the back of government stimulus dollars, increased vaccinations, and easing restrictions. Economists had forecasted at least 1 million regained jobs.
In response, the GOP is demanding to end parts of President Joe Biden's stimulus and calling for the government to slam the brakes on its spending. Democrats instead urged the passage of Biden's $4 trillion infrastructure plans, viewing the lackluster report as another pillar in their argument that more spending, in part on childcare, would accelerate the recovery.
It sets the stage between the parties for a multitrillion-dollar fight on infrastructure, jobs, and families that will take up much of the White House's time over the next few months.
The president argued for patience with his economic agenda on Friday. He said "more help is needed" and mounted a robust defense of his $1.9 trillion stimulus, which provided $1,400 direct payments and a $300-per-week federal unemployment benefit.
"When we passed the American Rescue Plan, I want to remind everybody, it was designed to help us over the course of a year — not 60 days — a year," Biden said. "We never thought that after the first 50 or 60 days, everything would be fine."
He flatly rejected the argument from Republicans and business groups that federal jobless aid has been sidelining people from the workforce, saying that was "nothing measurable."
"We're still digging out of an economic collapse that cost us 22 million jobs," Biden said. "Let's keep our eye on the ball."
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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urged Congress to move immediately on Biden's plans, and pointed to "women and working parents" being hit hardest in the pandemic. The number of women who held jobs fell in April, as reported by Insider's Juliana Kaplan and Madison Hoff.
"The evidence is clear that the economy demands urgent action, and Congress will not be deterred or delayed from delivering transformational investments," she said in a statement.
Republicans had already lined up against Biden's plans, criticizing the proposed tax hikes on large firms and wealthy Americans as a future anchor on the economy. They pounced on the report in a fresh sign of their hardening resistance.
The GOP swung at Biden's handling of the economy, arguing that the jobless aid was disincentivizing people from searching for a new job.
"This is a stunning economic setback, and unequivocal proof that President Biden is sabotaging our jobs recovery with promises of higher taxes and regulation on local businesses that discourage hiring and drive jobs overseas," Rep. Kevin Brady, ranking Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee, said in a statement.
He also contended that jobless aid was disincentivizing people from returning to work. The argument mirrored one made by the Chamber of Commerce, an influential business group which on Friday called for an end to the $300 federal unemployment benefit.
Many economists have long disputed that federal jobless aid has kept people from returning to work. Instead, they tend to cite other factors like the lack of available childcare and school closures.
Those burdens have fallen more on women, causing 2 million women to leave the workforce in the past year. Still, experts say the US will regain its economic footing eventually, though the nation faces a rocky path ahead.
"We're gonna see pockets of strength, pockets of weakness, areas of overheating, areas where it is uncool — it's going to be complicated and messy," Jason Furman, a former top economist to President Barack Obama, told Insider in an interview. "But I think hopefully all moving in the right direction."
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