People across the US are feeling the pinch of higher prices for food, housing and electricity. With a month to go until the midterm elections, Republican lawmakers are blaming the president for driving inflation to a 40-year high. However, Joe Biden says the latest jobs report is proof that the economy is seeing "historic progress."

Biden spoke on Friday to factory workers in Hagerstown, Maryland. He said the US needs to bring inflation down without giving up all historic economic progress that working class and middle-class people have made. He added that that's exactly what's been happening.

Biden has been busy visiting with union workers over the past months, stressing they are the "backbone of the economy."

The jobs report from the Department of Labor said the unemployment rate is at 3.5 percent -- the lowest level in 50 years. The economy added 263,000 new jobs, which was fewer than in previous months but in line with expectations. Business owners have slowed down hiring in response to the Federal Reserve raising interest rates, which makes it more difficult for companies to expand.

The low unemployment rate suggests, however, that fewer people are even looking for jobs. Biden said all these are "encouraging signs" that the US is transitioning to "stable, steady growth."