Trump Hails Wage and Job Growth: Weve Ended the War on American Workers
President Donald Trump hailed rising wages and job growth in a speech Tuesday, saying that the “war ..
President Donald Trump hailed rising wages and job growth in a speech Tuesday, saying that the “war on American workers” has come to an end.
“We have ended the war on American workers, we have stopped the assault on American industry, and we have launched an economic boom the likes of which we have never seen before,” Trump said at the Economic Club of New York, touting the strength of the U.S. economy.
“Last year, GDP growth matched the fastest rate in more than a decade, and it was the best of the G7 countries by far,” Trump said.
Overall economic growth in the second quarter of 2019 stood at 2.0 percent, with Texas leading the charge.
“The percent change in real GDP in the second quarter ranged from 4.7 percent in Texas to 0.5 percent in Hawaii,” the Bureau of Economic Analysis wrote in a Nov. 7 press release (pdf).
“Mining increased 23.5 percent for the nation,” the agency said, adding that this industry “was the leading contributor to the increases in Texas, Wyoming, Alaska, and New Mexico—the fastest growing states.”
Professional, scientific, and technical services grew by 7.4 percent overall, while wholesale trade saw a contraction of 6.7 percent.
“Wholesale trade was the leading contributor to slow growth in Hawaii, Maine, and New Jersey—the slowest growing states,” the agency said.
Jobs, Jobs, Jobs
In his speech, Trump touted the improving labor market, saying that his administration has created nearly 7 million new jobs.
“Before I took office, the Congressional Budget Office projected that fewer than 2 million jobs would be created by this time in 2019,” he said. “Instead, my administration has created nearly 7 million new jobs. We beat predictions more than three times the highest estimate that I saw during the campaign.”
Trump also said the unemployment rate had recently “achieved the lowest rate in 51 years.”
“African American unemployment, Hispanic American unemployment, and Asian American unemployment, have all reached the lowest rates in history,” the president said.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate is near record lows.
“They just announced we have the highest number of people working in our country in the history of our country. Almost 160 million people. Weve never been close to that number,” Trump said.
Figures for October 2019 show that of a total labor force of just over 164.4 million, 158.5 million people were employed, according to the Department of Labor and Training.
Wage growth, which under the previous administration struggled to break out, has seen a more pronounced, steady rise under Trump.
“Perhaps most importantly—after years of stagnation and decline—American wages, salaries, and incomes are rising very fast,” Trump said.
“Median weekly earnings of the nations 118.4 million full-time wage and salary workers were $919 in the third quarter of 2019 (not seasonally adjusted),” the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in mid-October (pdf). “This was 3.6 percent higher than a year earlier, compared with a gain of 1.8 percent in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) over the same period.”
Trump credited his administrations policies with the continued U.S. economic expansion. The president wrote in a tweet before his speech: “Economy is booming. Seems set to have another record day.”
Economy is BOOMING. Seems set to have yet another record day!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 12, 2019
Taking Aim at the Fed
Trump said the economic boom took place despite the Feds rate increases early in his presidency.
He criticized the Feds quantitative tightening and eight rate increases, which he called, “far too fast an increase and far too slow a decrease.”
“Because remember, we are actively competing with nations who openly cut interest rates so that now many are actually getting paid when they pay off their loan, known as negative interest,” Trump said.
He added that the Fed “doesnt let us play at that game.”
“It puts us at a competitive disadvantage to other countries.”
Stocks, Dollar Rise
Global equity markets and the dollar rose on Tuesday as Trump reiterated the United States is close to signing a trade deal with China but offered no new details.
Stocks on Wall Street set fresh record highs before Trumps highly anticipated remarks at the Economic Club, but slowly pared some gains after the speech, which contained no major policy announcements.
Trump talked about his administrations economic record but did not announce a venue or date for signing a trade deal with Chinese leader Xi Jinping asRead More – Source