Trump gloated at the monthly non-farm payrolls numbers from the Labor Department which far exceeded…
- Donald Trump gloated about a ‘blowout’ new official report showed 266,000 new jobs were created in November
- Economists had expected 180,000 new jobs but figure was far ahead of predictionsÂ
- Unemployment fell to 3.5%, keeping it at a 50-year law, while wages were up 3.1% year-on-year
- Economists had predicted 180,000 new jobs but figure blasted past thatÂ
- Jobs boom was driven by consumer sector hiring and health care while 54,00 new manufacturing jobs included 44,000 returning GM strikers
- Trump has pinned his 2020 re-election on strong jobs growth
Donald Trump hailed a ‘blowout’ job creation record in November as the Labor Department said employment expanded by 266,000 in the month – blasting past economists’ expectations.
Trump tweeted ‘GREAT JOBS REPORT!’ and the verdict of Fox Business Network anchor Maria Bartiromo, who has become one of his main media allies, that is was ‘a blowout.’
Hiring in the United States jumped last month to its highest level since January as U.S. employers shrugged off global trade conflicts.
The unemployment rate declined to 3.5% from 3.6% in October, matching a half-century low, the Labor Department reported Friday. And wages rose a solid 3.1% in November compared with a year earlier.
Bartiromo called manufacturing a ‘blowout,’ with 54,000 new jobs, although 44,000 of those were GM workers returning from their strike; other surveys have shown manufacturing activity contracted in November.
The healthy job gain runs against a widespread view that businesses are struggling to find workers with unemployment so low.
Persistent hiring should help keep consumers spending – a key engine of growth as businesses have cut their investment spending and exports have stalled.
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Monthly job growth has in fact accelerated since this summer, averaging 205,000 over the past three months, up from just 135,000 in July.
Steady hiring has helped reassure consumers that the economy is expanding and that their jobs and incomes remain secure, which, in turn, has helped fuel spending.
Consumer spending has become an even more important driver of growth because the Trump administration’s trade conflicts have reduced exports and led many businesses to cut spending.
Employment growth was also boosted by a gain of 60,200 healthcare workers. That lifted job growth well above its monthly average of 180,000 this year.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast payrolls rising by 180,000 jobs in November.
The economy was also found to have created 41,000 more jobs in September and October than previously estimated.
The 40-day strike by about 46,000 workers at GM plants in Michigan and Kentucky restricted employment gains to 156,000 jobs in October.
Manufacturing activity contracted for a fourth straight month in November. The factory malaise has been blamed on the Trump administration’s 17-month trade war with China, which has bruised business confidence and undercut capital expenditure.
Though Washington and Beijing are working on a ‘phase one’ trade deal, the United States has ratcheted up tensions with other trade partners including Brazil, Argentina and France. President Donald Trump said on Thursday the United States was having meetings and discussions with China ‘that are going well.’
Economic growth estimates for the fourth quarter are converging around a 1.8% annualized rate. The economy grew at a 2.1% pace in the third quarter. Economists estimate the speed at which the economy can grow over a long period without igniting inflation at between 1.7% and 2%.