Households are optimistic about jobs — and their incomes — under Biden

A survey released on Monday by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found that American households say they expect increased personal earnings and better employment prospects in President Joe Biden’s second year in office.

The Survey of Consumer Expectations is a monthly survey of approximately 1,300 households giving their views on earnings growth, job prospects, inflation, and credit.

In the December 2021 survey, respondents said they expected their earnings growth for the year ahead to be 3%, which was an increase of 0.2% over the previous month’s survey. The Reserve said that the most optimistic expectations came from respondents “with an annual household income below $50,000.”

People responding to the survey also expressed the view that unemployment will continue to decrease. Only 35.2% said they believe unemployment will be higher in a year, and even that was a 0.9-point drop from the November survey.

The number of respondents who said they perceived the possibility of losing their job in the next 12 months was also down 1.3% to 11.6%.

The national unemployment rate is currently 3.9%, down from the 6.3% that Biden inherited from former President Donald Trump in January 2021.

The survey also showed optimism about consumer costs in the coming year, in spite of Republican efforts to attack the Biden administration over the issue of inflation.

Respondents said that while they expected inflation to remain steady, they expected prices for gas and food to fall in the coming year.

In December, Biden said he believed supply chain problems have contributed to increased costs and expressed optimism about lowered prices in the near future.

“We are making progress on pandemic-related challenges to our supply chain which make it more expensive to get goods on shelves, and I expect more progress on that in the weeks ahead,” Biden said in a Dec. 10 statement.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.