Biden: Despite ‘encourging’ signs, US economy has long way to go

WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said there were “some signs of hope” in May’s employment report, but cautioned that the U.S. economy is far from a full recovery.

“We still have a long, long way to go in this recovery,” Biden told reporters at the White House Friday.

The pace of job losses eased in May, to 345,000 compared with April’s 504,000, according to the Labor Department, suggesting the U.S. recession may be beginning to wind down. Biden said that’s good news, but not good enough.

“It doesn’t satisfy me, it doesn’t satisfy the president, it doesn’t satisfy our economic advisers, particularly it doesn’t satisfy anyone who’s out there struggling to get by,” he said. “Less bad is not how we’re going to measure success.”

As job losses softened last month, the jobless rate surged 0.5 percentage point to 9.4%, its highest level since 1983. That figure won’t decline until the economy begins to add jobs again.

Biden, speaking in the Roosevelt Room before a meeting with his chief economist Jared Bernstein and Council of Economic Advisers Chair Christina Romer, said there are signs that the $787 billion stimulus package is starting to have an impact on the economy. He pointed to improvement in the construction job market.

“Yes, it’s an encouraging sign, but I want to make it clear and caution everyone there’s certainly going to be more setbacks on the road before we get finally to recovery,” Biden said.

He said he and President Barack Barack Obama on Monday would announce plans to “ramp up” the government’s implementation of stimulus funds this summer. He didn’t elaborate, and declined to answer a question about Monday’s announcement.

-By Henry J. Pulizzi, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9256; henry.pulizzi@ dowjones.com