Ranking Member Mike Lee on May Jobs Report 

WASHINGTON—Senator Mike Lee (R-UT), Ranking Member of the Joint Economic Committee, made the following statement after the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that the economy added 390,000 jobs in May:

"The labor market is not delivering American families the opportunities we know are possible. Before the pandemic, Americans came off the sidelines to join the workforce, wages rose, and unemployment fell.

"Today, more than 6 million workers are missing from the labor market. Policy choices under the Biden Administration disincentivized work, enabled non-work, made it more difficult to work, and in some cases prohibited work altogether. While some of these policies have expired, their effects continue to keep the labor market far from returning to the trends established before the pandemic.

"The strong pre-pandemic economy showed us what works for American families—a labor market where workers and employers are freed from burdensome regulations, and one where work is rewarded rather than punished. Policies that remove barriers to work and slow the runaway inflation that is eroding workers' paychecks are the first step toward again achieving the same prosperity." 

The Joint Economic Committee is Congress's bicameral economic research center and home of the Social Capital Project, led by Ranking Member Mike Lee.