DNC Chair and former labor secretary Tom Perez released the following statement after 1.5 million more Americans filed for unemployment last week:

“Another 1.5 million Americans filed for unemployment last week as Donald Trump tried to take a victory lap. This is Trump Economics pure and simple: leaving people to suffer while patting himself on the back. For 12 consecutive weeks now, the number of Americans filing initial claims for unemployment has at least doubled the worst week of the Great Recession. One-fifth of the American workforce has lost work or given up on trying to find a job. At least 113,000 Americans have died; families are struggling to get by; hospitals are overwhelmed as new COVID cases continue to surge; and many small businesses have shuttered for good. As if that failure of leadership wasn’t enough, Trump has repeatedly incited violence against peaceful protesters calling for an end to police brutality. The American people deserve better from their president. And when they cast their vote in November, they will remember this: Joe Biden helped us get out of the worst recession since the Great Depression. Donald Trump got us into the worst recession since the Great Depression.”