Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 09:28 pm
Donald Trump’s gloom and doom campaign may have been dealt a final blow by an October jobs report that showed unemployment falling below 5%, and 161,000 new private sector jobs created.
According to the White House, “The economy added 161,000 jobs in October—well above the pace needed to maintain a low and stable unemployment rate—as the longest streak of total job growth on record continued. U.S. businesses have now added 15.5 million jobs since early 2010. Most importantly, average hourly earnings for private employees increased 2.8 percent over the last twelve months, the fastest twelve-month pace since the recovery began and much faster than the pace of inflation. In fact, real wages have grown faster over the current business cycle than in any since the early 1970s.”
This is a boffo jobs report. It shows that earnings are going up, more business revenue is being spent on labor, and that job growth is occurring across all sectors.
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Voters don’t vote based on statistics, but the numbers paint the picture of an improved jobs climate that many workers and families feel in their own pocketbook finances. There are areas of the country that are not experiencing the same growth. Rural America continues to struggle, and some non-urban areas of the Rust Belt are more like Appalachia than a booming economy. Not coincidentally, these are the areas where Donald Trump’s message that everything has gone to hell in a handbasket is resonating.
A good jobs report was the last thing that Donald Trump needed. The 2016 election was already in good position for Hillary Clinton, but a good jobs report from President Obama’s economy should confirm to voters that there is no need to change course.
It is fitting that the final statistical blow to the Trump campaign’s argument has come from a man that Trump spent years trying to delegitimatize with the birther conspiracy.
Consider the October jobs report a bit of karmic payback to Donald Trump.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
