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TRUMP ECONOMY: Working Class Secures Largest Wage Hikes Thanks to Tight Labor Market

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The bottom 25 percent of American wage earners secured the largest wage hikes year-to-year compared to all others for November, newly released data reveals, thanks to President Trump’s tightening of the United States labor market.

Data from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta shows that for the lowest wage earners, Trump’s “Buy American, Hire American” economy has delivered the quickest rate of wage hikes in more than a decade.

In November, the bottom 25 percent of wage earners saw their wages rise 4.5 percent compared to November 2018. These bottom-tier workers, those earning less than all other Americans, have secured a labor market that now resembles the labor market of top-tier workers — a result of less low-skilled foreign competition against Americans through increased interior immigration enforcement.

“A strong labor market makes the bargaining power of lower-paid workers more like the labor market higher-wage workers experience during good times and bad,” Indeed.com economist Nick Bunker told the Wall Street Journal.

Overall wage growth year-to-year stands at about 3.6 percent. When broken down by industry, Americans in construction, mining, finance, hospitality, and manufacturing are all enjoying some of the highest wage growth in the country. (Read more from “TRUMP ECONOMY: Working Class Secures Largest Wage Hikes Thanks to Tight Labor Market” HERE)

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New Report: Economic Growth Continues Under Trump

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The Left wants an economic recession. They know it will increase their odds of beating Donald Trump in 2020, despite sending millions of American families into financial distress. For the elite and the Hollywood Left, they’re going to be fine. For everyone else, screw ‘em. HBO’s Bill Maher says he wants an economic collapse in the hopes of beating the president. With the Trump White House playing hardball with China, there were some ripple effects, but is there a recession on the horizon. Not really, despite the media trying to overload the news cycle in the hopes of driving down the numbers on Wall Street. They have been able to tank the markets. Brian Ross, formerly of ABC News, took to air with a shoddy story about Trump and Michael Flynn, where he said that Flynn was ordered by candidate Trump to make contact with the Russians during the 2016 election. This was done after Trump had won, which is typical for any incoming administration. Ross was suspended and eventually parted ways with ABC News, but not before the fake news story tanked the market.

The good news is that right now, despite the media lusting for our economic ruin, the economy is still going strong (via CNBC):

The labor market and the broader economy are both better than they look on the surface, and in fact have been mostly defying the continual patter of recession expectations.

By multiple measures, the U.S. is staying ahead of the global slowdown, the trade war with China and the bond market’s implication that the decadelong recovery after the financial crisis is coming to a close. Though the major Wall Street averages wobbled around breakeven … stocks are back near record highs as investors shrug off the wave of fear.

One gauge in particular shows how much the economy has defied downbeat forecasts.

(Read more from “New Report: Economic Growth Continues Under Trump” HERE)

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Trump Admin Reports Another Strong Monthly Jobs Report in July

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The Trump administration once again has some good economic news to close out the work week with the latest release of Bureau of Labor Statistics’ July job report on Friday.

Here are the highlights of Friday’s numbers:

There were 157,288,000 people employed in July, which marks an increase of 283,000 from the 157,005,000 employed in June.

The July employment number is also a 1,324,000 increase from the same month in 2018.

The unemployment rate has held steady at 3.7 percent.

The number of people not participating in the workforce also dropped considerably from June to July, dropping 183,000 from 96,057,000 to 95,874,000.

The number of people unemployed for 27 weeks or more declined by 248,000, according to a BLS statement.

The number of involuntary part-time workers — people who work part-time despite wanting full-time employment — has also dropped over the past 12 months by 604,000.

BLS also reported Friday that black employment is now at its highest point since the bureau started keeping records on the data in 1972 at 19,481,000. That’s 282,000 higher than June’s number of 19,199,000.

“July’s Employment Situation Report demonstrates the steady and consistent growth of the American economy,” said Acting Labor Secretary Patrick Pizzella. “With Labor Day a month away, we have not seen an unemployment rate this low on a Labor Day since 1952.”

Republican lawmakers praised the news, pointing to Republicans’ tax cuts and deregulation agenda as the cause of economic growth.

“A record number of workers are on the job in America’s strong, healthy and growing economy,” said Senate Republican Conference Chair John Barrasso, Wyo. “Republicans’ tax reform and regulatory relief have set the stage for robust job growth and wage gains, and American workers are winning.”

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, tweeted that the numbers were “good news for families+ society+ the entire country.”

In related news, a recent survey found that a majority of Americans think that government is in the way of growing the economy further, with 56 percent saying that big government spending is holding things back. (For more from the author of “Trump Admin Reports Another Strong Monthly Jobs Report in July” please click HERE)

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Trump Presidency Is the Longest Economic Expansion in U.S. History

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The news release by the U.S. Department of Labor today was important not only because it showed an improving job market, but also because it confirmed that the U.S. has officially entered the longest recorded economic expansion in U.S. history.

The U.S. economy made significant gains in June as employment increased by 224,000 and the unemployment rate remained largely unchanged at 3.7 percent.

These payroll growth numbers have been the best gain since January and ran contrary to worries that both the employment picture and overall growth picture were beginning to worsen. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal originally expected the economy to only add 165,000 jobs in June. . .

The Financial Times elaborates: “The post-crisis US economic expansion this week became the longest uninterrupted stretch of growth in modern American history.” . . .

Including today’s June nonfarm payroll employment numbers, President Trump has created roughly 5.6 million jobs since he first took office in January 20, 2017. (Read more from “Trump Presidency Is the Longest Economic Expansion in U.S. History” HERE)

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Boom: Blockbuster April Jobs Report Shocks Experts

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Economic forecasters were surprised when 2019’s first quarter GDP growth clip surpassed expectations, hitting 3.2 percent in a report published late last month. Would the April jobs numbers put a damper on things by underwhelming the markets? Or might it achieve or even surpass the consensus estimate of 185,000 new jobs? This is a very big win for the US economy and workforce — and it comes, as they so often say, “unexpectedly:”

Women weren’t the only beneficiaries of this very strong performance:

The national seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate for Hispanics and Latinos in the U.S. labor force fell to a record low of 4.2% in April, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data released Friday show. In April, the unemployment rate for Hispanics and Latinos, aged 16 and up, was 4.2%, down from 4.7% in March – breaking the record low of 4.3% set two months earlier in February. BLS began tracking Hispanic-Latino employment data in 1973.

(Read more from “Boom: Blockbuster April Jobs Report Shocks Experts” HERE)

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U.S. Economy Tops Three Percent Growth Over Calendar Year, a Milestone Obama Never Achieved

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A few important caveats, lest anyone be tempted to spike the football without reservations: First, while several of these data points are definitely encouraging, whether this level of growth (and continued record-low unemployment) can be sustained through 2019 and 2020 is an open question — and one that could be determinative as to the president’s re-election chances. Second, in the fiscal year, overall US GDP growth fell just shy of three percent, by one-tenth of one percentage point. Third, it’s virtually guaranteed that these numbers would be significantly better if the president were not engaged in multiple trade-related showdowns and tariff battles. Whether one agrees or disagrees with his approach to trade policy (I mainly disagree), it is settled economic science that increased tariffs are anti-growth. And finally, there’s a risk that the developing global slowdown could infect the US economy, even if we’re performing relatively well. Now, onto the good news:

U.S. economic growth was better than expected as 2018 came to a close, with GDP rising 2.6 percent, according to a first estimate the Commerce Department released Thursday. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones expected a gain of 2.2 percent after a 3.4 percent rise in the third quarter. The growth came amid a bevy of uncertainty and a time when the stock market briefly slid into bear market territory…Even with the weaker fourth quarter, economic growth was solid for the year, after GDP gains of 2.2 percent and 4.2 percent in the first and second quarters respectively…Employment remains strong, with payroll gains continuing in excess of 200,000 a month and wages rising at the fastest clip of the recovery.

Fourth quarter GDP exceeded experts’ expectations, topped three percent over the last year (more on that shortly), and is buttressed by sustained, low unemployment, and steadily rising wages. Bloomberg reports on a strong indicator that the GOP’s tax reform law — which is cutting taxes for the vast majority of Americans, despite universal Democratic opposition — helped spur 2018’s robust growth, thanks to increased business investment.

(Read more from “U.S. Economy Tops Three Percent Growth Over Calendar Year, a Milestone Obama Never Achieved” HERE)

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Economy Roars With 250,000 New Jobs in October

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With just days to go until the crucial 2018 midterm elections, the economy is roaring after adding 250,000 new jobs in October. The number leaps over expectations and predictions of 190,000 new positions.

Further, the labor participation rate has increased. From the Labor Department:

Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 250,000 in October, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.7 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Job gains occurred in health care, in manufacturing, in construction, and in transportation and warehousing.

The unemployment rate remained at 3.7 percent in October, and the number of unemployed persons was little changed at 6.1 million. Over the year, the unemployment rate and the number of unemployed persons declined by 0.4 percentage point and 449,000, respectively.

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (3.5 percent), adult women (3.4 percent), teenagers (11.9 percent), Whites (3.3 percent), Blacks (6.2 percent), Asians (3.2 percent), and Hispanics (4.4 percent) showed little or no change in October.

(Read more from “Economy Roars With 250,000 New Jobs in October” HERE)

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Booming: U.S. Wages and Salaries Grow at Fastest Pace in Ten Years

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One of the economic metrics liberals have focused on during the Trump presidency has been wages. Their argument has been that while other fundamental indicators are undeniably strong, America’s growth is failing to help workers and families improve their own take-home pay. This has been paraded as a failure of tax reform (more on that later), and an indictment of an otherwise-roaring economy. With the midterms looming, it looks like the naysayers and nitpickers are going to have to smoke out a new pessimistic talking point — via CNBC:

Wages and salaries rose 0.9 percent, well ahead of expectations for 0.5 percent. Benefit costs were up 0.4 percent. On a yearly basis, wages and salaries jumped 3.1 percent, the biggest increase in 10 years. Wage increases have been the missing link in the economy since the recovery began in mid-2008. Average hourly earnings have been rising steadily but have stayed below the 3 percent level as slack has remained in the labor market. However the unemployment rate is now at 3.7 percent, the lowest since 1969, and wage pressures have begun to build.

A recent Fox News survey showed that tax reform is polling eight points above water — far better than it fared when the bill was being debated and demagogued — and an NBC poll gave Republicans a 15-point lead over Democrats on handling the economy. But the opposition party has continued to blast away at the tax law, deliberately feeding widespread public perception that the new system helped very rich people and corporations, as opposed to the middle class. Politico reported this morning about the misleading or outright false tax attacks Democrats are running against the GOP this cycle: “Republicans cut taxes for the vast majority of Americans, though you wouldn’t know it by some of the campaign ads Democrats have been running,” the story explains. “Some badly misrepresent the law, portraying it as a broad tax increase on the middle class.” (Read more from “Booming: U.S. Wages and Salaries Grow at Fastest Pace in Ten Years” HERE)

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Choke on It, Liberals: U.S. Regains Rank as the World’s Most Competitive Economy

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Oh, it’s a good day for sure. Ever since the Trump tax cuts became law, the U.S. economy has been booming. Second quarter growth reached four percent; wages for U.S. workers reached their highest levels in a decade. Unemployment is at an 18-year low, with confidence levels from the small business community and consumers reaching their highest marks in years. Over three million jobs have been created. There are now more jobs than there are job seekers, though in CNN-land—everything is on fire. That’s not the case. Real Americans see this; it’s overreach. Well, the jacked up economy has yielded another positive. It’s allowed the U.S. to regain its spot as the number one competitive economy in the world (via Bloomberg):

The U.S. dethroned Hong Kong to retake first place among the world’s most competitive economies, thanks to faster economic growth and a supportive atmosphere for scientific and technological innovation, according to annual rankings by the Switzerland-based IMD World Competitiveness Center.

(Read more from “Choke on It, Liberals: U.S. Regains Rank as the World’s Most Competitive Economy” HERE)

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Poll: After Widely-Criticized Russia Week, This Happened to Trump’s Job Approval

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When I wrote last week that President Trump’s capitulatory press conference with Vladimir Putin was a low moment in his tenure thus far, I wasn’t out on a limb. Trump’s equivocations prompted rebukes from scores of Congressional Republicans, as well as critiques from a number of national figures who are typically supporters and allies. Trump’s secret sauce, however, is that the more he’s attacked, the more Republican voters feel compelled to circle the wagons and rally to his defense — hence the polling released last week in which super-majorities of GOP-leaning voters said they approved of his performance with Putin, and share his views on trade wars and tariffs. If it had been Obama at the center of either controversy, Republicans would undoubtedly have been nearly unified in intense opposition, but tribal loyalty is paramount these days. Indeed, for a great many partisan voters, Trump himself is the top “issue” ahead of the midterms, according to a new Politico/Morning Consult poll:

If the election turns into a referendum on the president, that could be a boon to Democrats…if Trump’s job approval rating is in ugly shape, and if undecided voters break substantially against him. A new NBC/WSJ poll contains hopeful signs for both parties. Let’s start with the good news for Republicans: The president’s approval numbers have surged in the series, placing him back in the mid-40’s:

President Donald Trump’s approval rating edged higher during a week in which he faced withering criticism following a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, signaling that he is positioned to weather the latest controversy sparked by his unusual brand of politics. Mr. Trump’s job approval rating rose to 45% in a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, the highest mark of his presidency and up 1 percentage point from June. The survey was taken over a four-day period that started July 15, a day before Mr. Trump’s news conference with Mr. Putin in which he questioned the conclusion of U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia meddled in the 2016 election…Mr. Trump’s overall approval rating continued to rank among the lowest of any modern president at this point his first term, and the poll turned up warning signals for him.

(Read more from “Poll: After Widely-Criticized Russia Week, This Happened to Trump’s Job Approval” HERE)

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