A top White House official is pleased with this week’s economic developments, even after a lackluster jobs report.
National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett went on Fox News on Friday, shortly after the Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed that employers gained 29,000 jobs in September. Economists had expected 90,000.
“The thing about the jobs numbers is that they sort of bounce up and down, but if you look at the data from this week it is proving that ‘Trumponomics’ is really working, and this is one reason why markets are celebrating so much,” Hassett, 64, began, referring to Friday’s stock market gains.
Hassett then said the Commerce Department on Wednesday revised upward its GDP outlook for the first half of the year, and a Federal Reserve report showed that inflation did not rise as much as expected in August.
“Now we have a jobs report that is a little bit lukewarm,” he conceded. “But if you look inside, 12,000 of the jobs were factory construction jobs. So, there are 112,000 people building factories right now that weren’t doing it when President Trump took office, and so those factories are going to turn into future jobs and we’re seeing it even with the groundbreaking the president did yesterday in Texas. And so we’re very, very happy with the numbers this week and I think the markets are, too.”
Friday’s jobs report also showed a slight rise in the umemployment rate over the past month, from 4.1 percent to 4.2 percent.
One reason for this, Hassett said, was how “people are seeing the strong labor market and saying, oh, I need to get back to the labor force because I’m going to make so much money.”
Hassett then spoke about the exodus of federal government workers under Trump.
“We looked very carefully at D.C. area employment, and those government workers that have left have found jobs,” he said. “In fact, the job market is stronger now without those government workers here than it was before we let them go.”
Meanwhile on Friday, news of the poor jobs report on sister station Fox Business Network was delivered grimly.
“The numbers do not look good,” said host Taylor Riggs, who then called them “a significant slowdown.”
Former Trump economic adviser Steve Moore weighed in: “Well, obviously it’s a disappointing number. I was hoping for closer to 75,000 to 100,000 jobs.”
In August, 133,000 jobs were added—a downward revision from the original estimate of 162,000.
The economy remains top of mind for many Americans, and it’s an issue where the GOP does not have the edge going into the midterms, polls have shown. For instance, one August survey by Focaldata found Americans felt that Democrats were more trustworthy on inflation, cost of living, and jobs.
Gas prices in particular have driven many away from Trump. The national average is $4.40—up from $2.98 in late February, before the president began his war on Iran.
