The first monthly jobs report under President Donald Trump was released this morning. The US added 235,000 jobs in February, and the unemployment rate has ticked down to 4.7 percent. The average pay is rising as well because a few states have raised the minimum wage. The average wage went up by 2.8 percent in February.
More people have started looking for jobs again who were not looking before. Many people are re-entering the workforce after being out for a long time. The warmer weather could also be a factor in the rise in employment.
Trump will likely have a hard time keeping his promise of creating 25 million jobs over the next ten years because the employers are competing to hire the few people who are still unemployed.
Ryan Sweet, an economist at Moody’s Analytics Inc. in West Chester, Pennsylvania, said:
“We’re getting closer and closer to full employment. Wages had been the one sore spot in the labor market data, and I think that’s coming through here. With inflation accelerating, I think we’re going to start to see even stronger wage growth down the road.”
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer tweeted this about it:
Great news for American workers: economy added 235,000 new jobs, unemployment rate drops to 4.7% in first report for @POTUS Trump
— Sarah Sanders (@PressSec) March 10, 2017
Trump And The Unemployment Rate
President Trump himself was very skeptical of these rates during his campaign. He kept saying the unemployment rate was more like 20, 30, or even as high as 40 percent. He pretty much just pulled numbers out of nowhere.
Even back in December of 2016, he was still saying this about the unemployment rate:
“So many people can’t get jobs. The unemployment number, as you know, is totally fiction.”
Is Trump Taking Credit For Obama’s Work?
When January’s jobs report came out, Trump said this about it:
“A couple of things happened this morning. So we are very happy about that. I think that it’s really big league. We’re bringing jobs back, we’re bringing down your taxes. We are going to get rid of your regulations.”
Trump wasn’t even in office until January 20. He was not bringing those jobs back, President Barack Obama still was. Breitbart even tweeted the report as if it was Trump’s:
First jobs report of the new administration. https://t.co/TpvK3g2nbm
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) February 3, 2017
Here is CNN’s Jake Tapper talking about Trump’s ridiculous claims of a 42 percent unemployment rate during the primaries:
Let’s give credit where credit is due — Thanks, Obama!
Featured image via YouTube screenshot.
