On The Money: Key takeaways from May jobs report | Biden rejects new GOP infrastructure offer as talks drag on

Happy Friday and welcome back to On The Money, where we cannot advise spending $100,000 on a chicken nugget. I’m Sylvan Lane, and here’s your nightly guide to everything affecting your bills, bank account and bottom line.

See something I missed? Let me know at slane@digital-release.thehill.com or tweet me @SylvanLane. And if you like your newsletter, you can subscribe to it here: http://bit.ly/1NxxW2N.

Write us with tips, suggestions and news: slane@digital-release.thehill.com,  njagoda@digital-release.thehill.com and nelis@digital-release.thehill.com. Follow us on Twitter: @SylvanLane, @NJagoda and @NivElis.

THE BIG DEAL: Key takeaways from May jobs report: Politicians, economists and lawmakers are all pouring over the May jobs report that showed the U.S. added jobs as the unemployment rate fell.

Specifically, the economy gained 559,000 new workers and the jobless rate dropped to a pandemic-low of 5.9 percent.

Economists often caution that the monthly jobs report is just a snapshot of the labor market, particularly given the unique ways COVID-19 has damaged and shaped the economy, but May’s numbers still provide important insights into how the U.S. is recovering from the pandemic.

Here are five key takeaways from Friday’s Labor Department report.

• Hard-hit sectors continue their strong recovery: May brought more sorely needed jobs to industries derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic that are beginning to recover as the virus comes under control in the U.S. The leisure and hospitality sectors gained 292,000 jobs, with 186,000 workers added to payrolls at restaurants and bars. The U.S. also added 53,000 jobs in local public schools, 50,000 in state schools, and 41,000 in private schools.

• Hard-hit demographics are still lagging: Some of the industries hindered the most by COVID-19 are rebounding, but many of the demographic groups who’ve suffered disproportionate burdens continue to trail the rest of their peers. The Black unemployment rate was 9.1 percent in May, well above the 5.1 percent unemployment rate for whites and 5.5 percent for Asian Americans. The Hispanic unemployment rate also remained high, at 7.3 percent.

• Labor force participation is stubbornly frozen: The percentage of working-age adults who are employed or actively seeking jobs was largely unchanged at 61.6 percent in May, sitting 1.7 percentage points below its February 2020 level.

• Wages are rising — but from pandemic depths: Average hourly earnings rose 0.5 percent in May, with wage growth hitting a 2 percent rate after falling sharply during the onset of the pandemic.

• Political battle over the recovery will rage on: The solid but unspectacular report has given both Democrats and Republicans ample ammunition to claim that their approach to the economy is better than the other’s.

I break it all down here.

LEADING THE DAY

Biden rejects new GOP offer as talks drag on: President Biden and Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (W.Va.), the lead Republican negotiator on infrastructure, spoke by phone on Friday but didn’t announce any significant development or breakthrough in talks that have stretched past the initial deadline of Memorial Day. Instead, Biden and Capito have plans to speak again on Monday.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement that Capito upped the GOP counterproposal to Biden’s American Jobs Plan by $50 billion, which wasn’t nearly enough for the president.

“The President expressed his gratitude for her effort and goodwill, but also indicated that the current offer did not meet his objectives to grow the economy, tackle the climate crisis, and create new jobs,” she said.

The impact: The lack of any reported progress is likely to further fuel mounting frustration among some Democratic lawmakers who have dismissed the latest Republican infrastructure offers as not serious.

The context: Capito, the lead GOP negotiator, and Biden missed an informal Memorial Day deadline to clinch a deal. Democratic lawmakers, who start returning to Washington next week, are now eager to move forward on an infrastructure package, with or without Republicans.

The Hill’s Morgan Chalfant explains why that might not be enough.

G-7 close to deal for global minimum tax rate of at least 15 percent: report: The Group of Seven (G-7) finance ministers are nearing an agreement to push in international tax negotiations for a global minimum tax of at least 15 percent, Bloomberg reported Friday, citing people familiar with the issue.

• A rate of at least 15 percent would match a proposal that the Treasury Department pitched last month.
• The G-7 finance ministers, including U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, are currently meeting in London and are expected to release a statement at the end of their meetings. 
• The G-7 consists of the U.S, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan.

The Hill’s Naomi Jagoda has more here.

ON TAP NEXT WEEK

Tuesday:

• IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig testifies before the Senate Finance Committee on the agency’s fiscal 2022 budget at 10 a.m.
• Acting Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young testifies before the Senate Budget Committee on President Biden’s fiscal 2022 budget proposal at 11 a.m.
• Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo testifies before a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on the Commerce Department’s fiscal 2022 budget request at 2 p.m.
• A Senate Banking subcommittee holds a hearing on connecting rural communities through transit at 2:15 p.m.

Wednesday:

• The Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center hosts a webinar entitled “What Are the Effects of the Biden Administration’s Corporate Tax Proposals?” at 9:30 a.m.
• Acting Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young testifies before the House Budget Committee on President Biden’s fiscal 2022 budget proposal at 11 a.m.
• The House Financial Services Committee holds a hearing entitled “Universal Vouchers: Ending Homelessness and Expanding Economic Opportunity in America” at 12 p.m.
• A Senate Banking subcommittee holds a hearing on central bank digital currency at 2:30 p.m.
• The Joint Economic Committee holds a hearing on the gender wage gap at 2:30 p.m.

Thursday:

• Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge testifies before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee on the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s fiscal 2022 budget request at 10 a.m.