A new jobs report for December is showing that American payrolls isn’t growing in the way many economists had predicted.
The economy only added 148,000 jobs in December — compared to the 190,000 nonfarm payroll jobs that economists had anticipated, according to CNBC. This was at least partially explained by the 20,000 retail jobs lost during the holiday season, although that does not account for the full difference.
Despite job growth being slower than expected, the unemployment rate remained at 4.1 percent.
The jobs news was not likely what Trump wanted when he tweeted out a positive spin on the state of the American economy on Friday morning.
Dow goes from 18,589 on November 9, 2016, to 25,075 today, for a new all-time Record. Jumped 1000 points in last 5 weeks, Record fastest 1000 point move in history. This is all about the Make America Great Again agenda! Jobs, Jobs, Jobs. Six trillion dollars in value created!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 5, 2018
One Republican double standard that became clear on Friday was that of Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas, the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. Although he boasted on Friday that the 148,000 job gain meant that “our economy continued to make progress,” he denounced a 292,000 job gain from December 2015 on the grounds that “millions of more Americans would be working today if the Obama Administration had spent less time growing Washington and more time growing our local economy.”
Other Twitter users also noted the GOP double-standard when it came to celebrating jobs growth under Trump versus jobs growth under President Barack Obama.
There’s cheering in certain sectors that the economy created 2.055 million jobs in 2017. Those people lamented the slow pace of an economy that created 2.24 million jobs in 2016.
— Sam Stein (@samstein) January 5, 2018
OBAMA adds 211,000 jobs: "I think it’s aggressively sustaining mediocrity.”
TRUMP adds 211,000 jobs: “I think it’s a great jobs report.”pic.twitter.com/UFSyrTDNuX
— JM Rieger (@RiegerReport) January 5, 2018
Job growth has slowed since Trump took office.
Jobs created in 2016: 2.24 million
Jobs created in 2017: 2.06 million2016: 187,00 jobs/month
2017: 171,000 jobs/monthDecember 2017 job numbers are lowest in four years.#JobsReporthttps://t.co/kVDu6AQb4n pic.twitter.com/Z9riMIFPfn
— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) January 5, 2018
If a booming stock market leads to jobs, then why was 2017 the weakest year of job growth in 7 years?
Jobs Created Per Month:
2017: 171,000
2016: 187,000
2015: 226,000
2014: 250,000
2013: 192,000
2012: 179,000
2011: 174,000
2010: 88,000#JobsReport https://t.co/kB42YxU0CT— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) January 5, 2018
Other economic metrics were more positive. Job growth in November was revised upward to 252,000 from the initially reported 228,000. Overall the average payroll growth for the last three months has been 204,000 jobs each month, with average hourly earnings increasing by 9 cents to $26.63 an hour, according to The New York Times. This brought the year-over-year increase in hourly earnings to 2.5 percent.
