It was a good year for workers in Biden’s America | Editorial

Taylor Swift may have been named Time’s Person of the Year, but 2023 was really the year of the American worker.

Labor unions made major strides, flexing their muscle by walking picket lines and securing generous raises. Workers have had a strong ally in President Joe Biden, who joined striking autoworkers outside a plant in Michigan, becoming the first sitting president to do so.

Biden’s policies — including his infrastructure bill — have strengthened the economy following the sharp downturn brought on by COVID-19 and former President Donald Trump’s mishandling of the pandemic. Under Biden, the U.S. has added 14 million jobs and workers have seen real wage gains. The unemployment rate has been below 4% for 22 consecutive months, the longest such streak since the 1960s.

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Trillions of dollars in federal stimulus spending during the pandemic that began under Trump and continued into Biden’s term — along with supply-chain disruptions and corporate profiteering — drove up prices and increased inflation.

A series of interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve helped to ease inflation and so far avoid a recession. Prices are dropping, including gasoline, which is under $3 a gallon in some states. Deftly navigating the economic fluctuations has not been easy. Indeed, Biden seems to be getting more blame than credit.

But the reality is the job market is booming, inflation has eased, and the stock market is at record highs. Under Biden, the robust U.S. economy has outperformed Europe and China.

American workers have been the biggest beneficiaries. The United Auto Workers led the way after its members went on rolling strikes against the Big Three carmakers. In the end, the autoworkers received record contracts that will result in a 33% boost in wages.

Biden’s strong support for autoworkers stands in stark contrast to Trump, the leading Republican for the 2024 presidential nomination, who traveled to a nonunion plant and asked for UAW members to endorse him.

Other unions also had excellent years. The Hollywood writers and actors unions used a record six-month strike to win a labor deal worth more than $1 billion over three years and included key protections on the use of artificial intelligence, a revolutionary technology that one report said could eliminate two-thirds of jobs in the U.S. and Europe.

This month, Microsoft said it would remain neutral if any group of its U.S. workers wants to unionize. The deal could clear the way for 100,000 tech workers to unionize. That’s on top of the nearly 300,000 increase in workers belonging to unions, though the percentage of unionized workers is roughly half of what it was in 1983.

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Indeed, Biden’s policies have advanced worker’s rights and benefited workers much more than Trump’s did during his four years in office. Just some of the many ways Trump hurt workers include his opposition to an increase in the federal minimum wage, slashing the number of workplace safety inspectors, and imposing tariffs on China that cost America 245,000 jobs.

While Biden has been much more pro-worker than his predecessor, all is not perfect. Millions of workers have had to juggle multiple jobs to make ends meet. The tight labor market has also resulted in a disturbing rise in child labor. And many companies continue to use hardball tactics to oppose unionization efforts, including Amazon, Apple, Starbucks, and Trader Joe’s.

But overall, workers have benefited under Biden. Voters should keep that in mind as we head into a decisive — and divisive — election year.