Biden to visit Cleveland to discuss economy

President Joe Biden will visit Cleve- land on Wednesday to deliver remarks on his eco- nomic agenda and “build- ing the economy from the bottom up and the middle out,” the White House said Friday. The White House said it would release more details about the trip in upcoming days.

Biden also visited Cleve- land to discuss the econ- omy last May, where he touted reduced unem- ployment on his watch, rising wages, and turning the tide on the coronavirus pandemic in an appearance at Cuyahoga Community College.

“I believe this is our moment to rebuild an economy from the bottom up and the middle out, not a trickle-down economy from the very wealthy,” Biden said during that speech. “That has never benefited people who are at this college or any other place where they’re trying to make a living.”

A year ago, Biden talked about how the economy had added 500,000 jobs per month during his initial time in office, and had “created 1.5 million jobs, more jobs than have ever been created in the first three months of any presidency in the history United States.”

A month before Biden’s upcoming trip, Heather Boushey, a member of Biden’s Council of Economic Advisors, told reporters that “there’s only been a few months over the past 50 years” when the national unemployment rate has been as low as its current 3.6%. She described the economy as “sprinting out of the darkness of the pandemic era,” but predicted growth would shift to a more “marathon phase.”

“We need to keep moving forward, but it’s going to be at a slightly slower pace than it was,” said Boushey.

She said the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have added to “price pressures across the economy,” even as job gains continue.