WASHINGTON — Vice President Joe Biden defended the economic recovery and admitted that the White House never promised high paying jobs.

“We’ve grown and made sure no one got left behind. No one got left behind,” Biden said Wednesday at a jobs event sponsored by the think tank Third Way.

“We didn’t guarantee that every new job was going to be a high-paying job.”

The event’s audience was comprised of community college administrators, business leaders and Secretary of Labor Tom Perez.

May’s jobs report will come out Friday morning.

AP reports:

“The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits crept up last week to 312,000, according to the Labor Department. The report heightens speculation that the government’s monthly jobs report, due out Friday, could reveal a modest slowdown in hiring in May.”

More Americans see a worsening job situation by a 48-39 percent margin according to the latest Fox News poll.