Biden touts COVID rebound after weak Dec jobs report, says 'historic day for our economic recovery'

President Biden declared Friday a "historic day" for the county's economic recovery, after the federal government's December jobs report that showed the U.S. economy last month added only about half of the roughly 422,000 jobs expected by Wall Street.

"I think this is a historic day for our economic recovery," the president said from the White House a few hours after the Labor Department reported the U.S. economy in December added 199,000 new jobs.

Biden, roughly one year in the White House and running the country roughly two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, instead focused on the December unemployment number decreasing to 3.9%, compared to 4.2% for November. 

"Today's national unemployment rate fell below 4% [to] 3.9%, the sharpest one-year drop in unemployment in the United States history." He also said December marked first time the unemployment rate has been under 4% in the first year of a presidential term in 50 years and that the county has reached the 3.9% rate "years faster than experts said we'd be able to do it."

He also said the his administration has added 6.4 million new jobs since January 2021.

The number of jobs added in November was 210,000, according to the department's Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

The December hiring occurred before the arrival to the U.S. of COVID-19's highly contagious Omicron variant, but the surge in infections and the related closures and return to more-strict health-safety measures is expected to impact the January jobs report.