Last month's jobs report was welcome news, John.

To recap: 339,000 jobs were created in May, and the unemployment rate remains low. Here's a breakdown of the top six sectors that experienced growth in May.

Reports like these only tell part of the story, to get a better understanding of what we need to do next, we have to look at the broader economic picture. Right now, that means considering inflation and what else could be keeping folks out of the workforce.

Inflation is hurting working families, we need to pass common sense legislation to bring prices down and wages up. We need to:

• address the supply chain issues that drive up costs by increasing American manufacturing;
• develop a container port in Coos Bay to create thousands of good-paying jobs, reduce shipping congestion, and give Oregon farmers and producers easy access to get their goods to market;
• lower energy costs while we transition to a clean energy economy; and
• expand workforce training opportunities so Oregon has the highly-skilled workforce we need to be competitive.

We need to make the workforce more hospitable by:

• increasing the federal minimum wage to $15/hour and eliminating the tipped minimum wage;
• reduce childcare costs through universal preschool and federal support;
• providing comprehensive paid family and medical leave for all workers;
• enforcing protections against discrimination and harassment in the workplace;
• making federal investments in workforce training and expanding the apprenticeship model; and
• passing the PRO Act to make it easier for workers to form unions and collectively bargain.

If you're ready to reimagine the modern American workforce, please make a contribution of $3 to my campaign today. With your support, we can make these priorities a reality.

More soon,

Val