South Court Auditorium

Eisenhower Executive Office Building

11:23 A.M. EDT
 
THE PRESIDENT:  Well, thank you all for your patience. 
 
Secretary Raimondo, thank you.
 
Before we begin, I’d like to speak very briefly about today’s jobs report that was just been issued. 
 
We received more good news.  In August, the economy created 315,000 new jobs.  The great American jobs machine continues its comeback.  American workers are back to work, earning more, manufacturing more, and building an economy from the bottom up and the middle out.
 
But with today’s news, we have now created nearly 10 million new jobs since I took office.  Nearly 10 million jobs — the fastest growth in all of American history.
 
In August, we also saw that the share of Americans who are working in our economy went up.  Economists call that the “labor force participation rate.”
 
Working-age women are now, for the first time, back at work at rates not seen since before the pandemic.
 
Wages are up.  Unemployment remains near a 50-year low.  And, yesterday, we got that — we got data that showed that manufacturing orders were up but cost increases of supply chain items were beginning to ease. 
 
The week before that, we got data showing that price increases may be beginning to ease as well.
 
The bottom line is: Jobs are up.  Wages are up.  People are back to work.  And we are seeing some signs that inflation may be — may be — I’m not going to overpromise you — may be beginning to ease.
 
Couple that with the fact that gas prices have now fallen 80 straight days — the fastest decline in over a decade –
and the price at the pump is now $1.20 a gallon less than it was the beginning of summer.
 
America has some really good news going into Labor Day weekend.
 
But we’re also seeing something else critical to the backbone of the American economy: manufacturing.  Manufacturing is roaring back.
 
Since I took office, the economy has created 668,000 manufacturing jobs — the strongest manufacturing job recovery since the 1950s.
 
And just last week, we’ve seen major American companies — from First Solar to Corning to Micron — announce plans to invest tens of billions of dollars — tens of billions, that’s not a misstatement — tens of billions of dollars, expanding manufacturing in America.
 
We’ve seen major global companies –like Toyota and Honda — announce that they are choosing America to invest and build.
 
None of this is happening by accident.  These investments and this recovery are a direct result of my economic plan.  Some people gave up on American manufacturing.  Not me.  Not the Secretary.  Not the American people.
 
“Make It in America” is no longer just a slogan; it’s a reality in my administration. 
 
I’m committed to building an economy from the bottom up and the middle out.  You’ve heard me say that a thousand times.  But that’s what’s happening.  And that’s what we’re here to talk about today. 
 
Now, a big part of the American Rescue Plan that I signed once I — a month after we got in office — we were facing a once-in-a-century pandemic, historic joblessness, businesses struggling to stay open, remote learning for our children. 
 
But thanks to the American Rescue Plan, we have come a long way. We got vaccine shots in arms.  We helped people who needed it — it the most.  We kept teachers in the classrooms, cops on the beat, firefighters on the job — because the local communities didn’t have the money to pay for them.
 
And as a result, COVID no longer controls our lives.  More Americans are working than ever.  Businesses are growing.  Schools are open.  And today, we’re celebrating a signature program the American Rescue — of the American — within the American Rescue Plan that’s going to help communities that need it most.
 
Look, it’s called the Build Back Better Regional Challenge.  It’s centered around a vision that, as our economy recovers and modernizes, as science and technologies accelerate and change the nature of how we manufacture, we want workers and small businesses leading this transition — making sure they’re a part of it, not just being shunted aside — instead fearing that the transition will be leave them behind.  We’re going to help them get retrained and many other things. 
 
And thank — think — look, think of the 55-year-old small businessman who has been making a single screw — this is literally true — for a combustible engine for cars for decades.  He and his workers are worried.  Why?  Because we’re moving to high-tech electric vehicles.  We’re going to help them and their businesses with training and new technology to help them make parts for electric vehicles and lead the transition to a clean energy economy so they’re not left behind.
 
This is about investing in them, believing in them, helping them transition to a new world.  They can do these jobs, just like they did the ones they had before.  This is about jobs in their communities for them — not having to leave or not having to go on unemployment.
 
As new enterprises are created in the communities, they should have — they shouldn’t have to leave.  They should be the ones being able to fill in for those jobs. 
 
So we designed this program by thinking about people and places in a really important way.  And I know I got all of you up on the screen here in 21 different communities. 
 
This American Rescue Plan program invests $1 billion — a total of $3 [billion] — but $1 billion to create jobs and opportunity for people in the places where they live and where they’ve worked their entire careers so they don’t have to leave.
 
I know when folks hear such big numbers, they don’t think it’s — it’s for them.  But this is for them.  It is for them.