Jan. 14, 2020
Permission to republish original opeds and cartoons granted.
President Trump is overseeing the best peacetime labor market and economy in modern history as 2020 election looms
With 3.5 percent
unemployment, the lowest since 1969 when U.S. involvement the Vietnam War was
still at its height, and 6.7 million jobs created since Jan. 2017 — President
Donald Trump is presently overseeing the best peacetime labor market conditions
in modern history. And it could get even better, the reason being because
working aged adults 16-to-64 continue to pour into the U.S. economy at levels
nobody expected prior to 2016. In 2019, 1.1 million more 16-to-64-year-olds
found jobs, even as the population of 16-to-64-year-olds decreased by 238,000,
according to the latest average, annual, seasonally unadjusted data from the
Bureau of Labor Statistics. And the good news economically is those
developments will continue for the next several years, which, barring a
recession, promise to drive unemployment even lower than its currently
historically low numbers. This economy is great, making a strong case for
Trump’s reelection in 2020, where he can point to his tax cuts, deregulation
and new trade deals as being big difference makers, and where everyone who
wants a job can find one. It’s tough to argue against success.
Cartoon: Eyes Wide Shut
The Left is
hoping younger Americans are living in a virtual reality in 2020.
Andy Puzder: Trump economy is booming – Good news for America, bad news for Democrats
“The Democrats
are in for a tough year. President Trump’s economy is roaring, completely
debunking the left’s pessimistic narrative about economic growth. According to
figures released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a record 158.8
million Americans are now employed, while the unemployment rate continues to
hold steady at a 50-year low of 3.5 percent. With more job openings than there
are job seekers to fill them, our strong and growing economy has truly reached
full employment – an elusive milestone that means we are butting up against the
limits of how quickly we can expand the labor force. This is especially great
news for workers, because companies with job openings to fill are increasingly
having to compete with each other to attract employees by offering higher
wages, better benefits, improved working conditions, greater flexibility and
more workplace perks.”
President Trump is overseeing the best peacetime labor market and economy in modern history as 2020 election looms
By Robert Romano
With 3.5 percent unemployment, the lowest since 1969 when U.S. involvement the Vietnam War was still at its height, and 6.7 million jobs created since Jan. 2017 — President Donald Trump is presently overseeing the best peacetime labor market conditions in modern history.
And it could get even better, the reason being because working age adults 16-to-64 years old continue to pour into the U.S. economy at levels nobody expected prior to 2016.
In 2019, 1.1 million more 16-to-64-year-olds found jobs, even as the population of 16-to-64-year-olds decreased by 238,000, according to the latest average, annual, seasonally unadjusted data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
As a result, labor participation among working age adults increased to 74.1 percent, its highest level since 2009. While still a ways off from its 1997 high of 77.37 percent participation, it is still dramatically improved from its 2015 low of 72.61 percent when younger workers were still struggling to enter the U.S. economy.
Much of the improvement has been since 2016, and comes at a critical time when labor participation among working age adults had been dropping every single year since 1997 save 2006.
In 2016, this represented about 9.1 million 16-to-64-year-olds who would have been in the labor force had the participation rate remained what it was in 1997. In 2019, that number was down to 6.7 million, an improvement of 2.3 million. But for two decades it was a lost generation of opportunity for millions after the dotcom bust and the financial crisis more recently. We still have not fully recovered, leaving a lot of room to grow to bring more Americans into the labor force.
Within the 16-to-64-year-old group, a majority the job gains have been among females, at 2.7 million new jobs for working aged women versus 2.1 million more jobs for working aged males.
Unemployment for blacks and Hispanics remains near historic lows as well.
487,000 new manufacturing jobs have been created.
All of which makes the Trump economy one of the most equitable in American history, something to aspire to where the financial well-being of the nation is one that benefits Americans of all backgrounds.
Now, to be fair, there are favorable demographics that factor in here in the near-term, namely, as Baby Boomers retire younger Americans are boosting their labor participation and finding jobs that were previously unavailable, and the percent of workers without high school diplomas continues to plummet while those with college education continues to skyrocket.
And the good news economically is those developments will continue for the next several years, which, barring a recession, promise to drive the unemployment rate even lower than its currently historically low numbers.
Finally, for those who, for partisan reasons alone, were aspiring for an economic downturn sometime before the end of the year in the hopes that it would help oust President Donald Trump in November, you might not want to hold your breath. This economy is great, making a strong case for Trump’s reelection in 2020, where he can point to his tax cuts, deregulation and new trade deals as being big difference makers, and where everyone who wants a job can find one. It’s tough to argue against success.
Robert Romano is the Vice President of Public Policy at Americans for Limited Government.
Cartoon: Eyes Wide Shut
By A.F. Branco
Click here for a higher level resolution version.
ALG Editor’s Note: In the following featured oped from Andy Puzder, the Trump economy is booming and that is good news for America even if it is bad news for President Donald Trump’s political opponents:
Andy Puzder: Trump economy is booming – Good news for America, bad news for Democrats
By Andy Puzder
The Democrats are in for a tough year. President Trump’s economy is roaring, completely debunking the left’s pessimistic narrative about economic growth.
According to figures released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a record 158.8 million Americans are now employed, while the unemployment rate continues to hold steady at a 50-year low of 3.5 percent.
With more job openings than there are job seekers to fill them, our strong and growing economy has truly reached full employment – an elusive milestone that means we are butting up against the limits of how quickly we can expand the labor force.
This is especially great news for workers, because companies with job openings to fill are increasingly having to compete with each other to attract employees by offering higher wages, better benefits, improved working conditions, greater flexibility and more workplace perks.
“As we begin this new year, our economy is booming,” President Trump said during a recent rally in Ohio, adding that “wages are soaring, workers are thriving, and America’s future has never looked brighter.”
But the remarkable employment figures are only part of the story. According to the most recent weekly report from the Labor Department, jobless claims have fallen to 214,000 – thousands fewer than experts had expected.
Moreover, the service sector – which accounts for nearly 80 percent of gross domestic product – experienced a significant boost last month, suggesting that demand for workers is continuing to increase.
These incredible economic figures are a nightmare for the Democrats, who have spent the last three years warning voters about impending economic doom. Time and again, those on the left have attempted to manufacture panic over anomalous, cherry-picked, or just plain misunderstood data points, using them to justify their fanatical insistence that President Trump’s policies are destined to trigger the next Great Recession.
But the recession hasn’t come – and for a good reason. Contrary to the Democrats’ talking points, President Trump’s pro-growth economic agenda succeeded in strengthening the private sector and unshackling America’s entrepreneurial spirit, leading to the creation of more than 7 million new jobs across America.
Thanks to President Trump’s historic tax cuts, for instance, Americans saved an average of $1,400 on their federal income taxes in 2018. Meanwhile, his commonsense approach to slashing the job-killing regulations that were put in place by his predecessor has freed workers and business owners alike from the bureaucratic micromanagement that had stifled economic growth in this country – sometimes intentionally – for years.
President Trump’s bold and assertive trade policies will give the economy an even greater boost in the near future, disproving the constant naysaying of Democrats and the mainstream media.
Thanks to the president’s widely misunderstood strategic counter-tariffs, for instance, the U.S. and China are on the verge of reaching a revolutionary bilateral trade agreement that would protect American businesses and their intellectual property.
Perhaps even more significantly, the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement (USMCA) is on the verge of being implemented, after obstructionist Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., finally allowed members to approve it late last year.
The deal is set to add tens of billions of dollars to our gross domestic product and increase employment by nearly 200,000 jobs, which is basically like having an extra month in the year in terms of job growth. Call it the Trump leap year.
The U.S. economy is thriving like never before under President Trump – and the obstructionist Democrats know it. With 2020 getting off to such an auspicious start, their woes are just going to keep growing until Election Day in November.
