A recent Pew survey indicates that 58 percent of the country thinks the economy is doing well, the most since before the financial crisis, and up from 44 percent last year. That’s the biggest jump ever seen in this series, and only the second time that a majority of respondents said they were satisfied with the economy. The assessment is shared almost equally by Republicans and Democrats. Recent polls show that, increasingly, Americans give Trump credit for the roaring economy, which has boosted his approval ratings.
What’s got people feeling more positive? Gallup reports that 67 percent of Americans think it is a good time to find a quality job, the highest in 17 years of polling on this topic and up 25 points since Trump was elected. For the first time ever there are more job openings than people looking for work. The vacancies are especially high in manufacturing, which is gratifying since for years liberal economists such as those who guided Obama’s economic policies have been telling us the U.S. could no longer compete as a producer. Over the past year, we’ve added 259,000 jobs in manufacturing.
Take-home pay is going up, above the rate of inflation, and more quickly than it did under Obama. Hourly wages rose 2.7 percent year-over-year in May, while average weekly income rose 3 percent. With inflation running at about 2 percent, that constitutes real growth, which is augmented by lower tax bills for most Americans. Part of the reason that wage gains have been sluggish is that we have seen little increase in productivity over the past decade. Higher output per worker allows wages to rise; that increase depends in part on capital investment by businesses.
What’s got people feeling more positive? Gallup reports that 67 percent of Americans think it is a good time to find a quality job, the highest in 17 years of polling on this topic and up 25 points since Trump was elected. For the first time ever there are more job openings than people looking for work. The vacancies are especially high in manufacturing, which is gratifying since for years liberal economists such as those who guided Obama’s economic policies have been telling us the U.S. could no longer compete as a producer. Over the past year, we’ve added 259,000 jobs in manufacturing.
Take-home pay is going up, above the rate of inflation, and more quickly than it did under Obama. Hourly wages rose 2.7 percent year-over-year in May, while average weekly income rose 3 percent. With inflation running at about 2 percent, that constitutes real growth, which is augmented by lower tax bills for most Americans. Part of the reason that wage gains have been sluggish is that we have seen little increase in productivity over the past decade. Higher output per worker allows wages to rise; that increase depends in part on capital investment by businesses.
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