Biden Touts Unions and Job Growth During Labor Day Parade in Philadelphia

President Joe Biden returned to the state that put him over the top in 2020 to deliver an address marking Philadelphia’s Tri-State Labor Day Parade. “We’re celebrating jobs. Good paying jobs. Jobs you can raise a family on. Union jobs,” Biden said, touting 13.5 million jobs created so far in his term, which includes 800,000 manufacturing jobs.

“There are a lot of politicians in this country who don’t know how to say the word ‘union,’” he said. “I’m proud to say union. I’m proud to be the most pro-union president, according to the experts, in American history.”

The president touted his administration’s actions protecting pensions and overtime pay, renewing infrastructure, and redistributing the tax burden, among other policies, and called on Congress yet again to pass the PRO Act, which would make it easier for workers to organize unions.

Biden’s visit comes as polls of voters’ attitudes toward Biden’s economy remain unfavorable, despite welcome news on inflation and job growth. Friday’s job report showed robust—if slightly slowing—job growth, despite higher interest rates imposed by the Federal Reserve. NBC News reported on Sunday that the Biden campaign’s plan is to continue to avoid wading into Trump’s legal business for the rest of the year, and to focus on touting what has become known as “Bidenomics.”

In the speech, which took place at the Sheet Metal Workers Local 19 office, Biden did not mention Donald Trump by name, only referring to him as “the guy who held this job before me” and “the last guy.” “When the last guy was here, he looked at the world from Park Avenue,” he said. “I look at it from Scranton, Pennsylvania. I look at it from Claymont, Delaware.” Biden also said his predecessor was one of just two presidents in U.S. history who ended a term with net job losses. The other, he said with obvious relish, was Herbert Hoover.

Biden’s visit marks the seventh time he’s traveled to Philadelphia this year, and at least the 14th since he began his term. Biden’s first campaign rally of his re-election bid came in front of 2,000 union members assembled at the Philadelphia Convention Center, and immediately followed a major joint endorsement by the AFL-CIO and 17 other unions.

The visit also comes at the end of what has been called “the summer of strikes,” with major work stoppages, including an ongoing writers’ strike, which entered its fifth-month last weekend.