1600 Daily
The White House • March 12, 2019
The blue-collar Trump boom
The economy has been red hot since President Donald J. Trump took office. That’s great news on its own. But even better is that not all booms are created equal—and the blue-collar Trump Economy is paying off for exactly the working Americans who need it most.
Last year, Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Kevin Hassett reported that blue-collar jobs grew at their fastest pace since 1984. And now, “after years of job losses, U.S. manufacturing employment has risen for 18 straight months among those holding production or nonsupervisory jobs, the longest stretch of gains since the mid-1990s,” The Wall Street Journal wrote this month.
More good news today: “Real wages for American families are soaring,” the Council of Economic Advisers reported this morning. Hourly earnings rose by 1.9 percent in the past 12 months — exceeding even last year’s pace.
Complementing those rising wages is a significant drop in prices. American families are paying less at the pump as gasoline prices fell 9.1 percent during the past year. And in keeping with a major promise from President Trump, last month saw the biggest year-over-year decline in prescription drug costs since 1972.
February’s jobs report, released Friday, revealed that the unemployment rate fell to 3.8 percent last month, remaining near a 50-year low.
Behind these numbers is a renewal of hope among working-class families and blue-collar communities across the heartland. Nearly 70 percent of Americans told Gallup they expect their personal financial situation to be even better next year. Their employers are optimistic, too. On average, a stunning 91.8 percent of manufacturers feel positive about their companies’ future growth under President Trump, compared with an average of 68.6 percent during the last two years of the Obama Administration.
