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The U.S. economy added 353,000 jobs in January 2024, significantly outperforming economists’ expectations. But according to Peter Schiff, CEO and chief global strategist at Euro Pacific Capital, the situation might not be as positive as the headline figures suggest.

“The only reason that jobs are going up is because people are forced to take two or three jobs, because prices keep going up, and their paychecks are not,” said the economist and financial commentator during a recent appearance on OAN Network’s “Real America.”

Schiff’s perspective on the labor market starkly contrasts with that of the White House.

President Joe Biden recently highlighted the jobs report as proof that “America’s economy is the strongest in the world.”

Biden also celebrated other achievements of his administration, saying, “Our economy has created 14.8 million jobs since I took office, unemployment has been under 4% for two full years now, and inflation has been at the pre-pandemic level of 2% over the last half year.”

Despite these accomplishments, Schiff remains critical.

“Figures lie and liars figure,” he said, paraphrasing a famous quote often attributed to Mark Twain. “... and they're always going to try to spin these numbers and try to, you know, put lipstick on a pig. But if you look at Biden's popularity, which is the lowest of any president in history, and you look at why he's so unpopular — it's the economy.”

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Schiff is particularly concerned about America’s inflation challenge.

The consumer price index increased by 3.1% in January 2024 from a year ago, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This was higher than expected, but is a notable improvement from the 9.1% annual increase recorded in June 2022, which was the highest since 1981.

Nonetheless, Schiff is unimpressed, labeling the latest CPI report “a disaster.”

“It really confirms what I've been warning for months now that inflation is bottoming, that we're not at the peak, but we're at the trough and we never got to 2%,” he said.

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This post was edited on 2/26/24 at 9:30 am