Economist and conservative columnist Stephen Moore praised another "blockbuster" jobs report Friday on CNN. The Labor Department announced that 157,000 jobs were added in July and the unemployment rate dropped to 3.9 percent. Job gains have averaged 224,000 a month over the past three months. The biggest jobs gains were in business, manufacturing, and health care.
Moore said the report "makes you proud to be an American.”
Club For Growth founder, Stephen Moore, on today’s jobs report: “Blockbuster report,” “makes you proud to be an American” https://t.co/5TKU3MpVcZ pic.twitter.com/KeGZ6X6JvM
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 3, 2018
Moore admitted the report was below analyst expectations, but said it would be stronger "if there were more workers available."
Meanwhile USA Today called the report "disappointing" and CNN's Allison Kosick noted that the below-expectations July report resulted in a "flat open" to the stock market.
The unemployment rate fell to 3.9% and the economy added 157,000 jobs in July, the Labor Department says https://t.co/Q8eqGgJ1dA pic.twitter.com/al9v64npfB
— CNN (@CNN) August 3, 2018
Catherine Rampell of The Washington Post, who sparred with Moore this morning, also isn't so sure the report was all that impressive. She wants to see more numbers.
Avg hourly wages up 2.7% yoy in July in nominal terms. Gotta wait a week for the CPI report, when we'll learn if workers got a raise in inflation-adjusted terms. Wage gains for June were wiped out by inflation.
— Catherine Rampell (@crampell) August 3, 2018
Also throwing a wrench in the July jobs numbers could be China's new tariffs of $60 billion on U.S. goods. How will that affect the number of manufacturing jobs?
Moore says since the American economy is so strong right now, China will be the one to suffer. Their tariffs could "plunge them into a recession," he predicted.
The Republican National Committee is focusing on the positive, pointing out that Hispanic unemployment hit another new record low. It fell to 4.5 percent, beating the previous record of 4.6 percent that was set in June. Yet, Trump can't take all the credit. This minority unemployment rate has been falling "fairly steadily since 2011," the Washington Examiner pointed out.