For the first time in two years, the U.S. Job Market has seen substantial growth in the number of jobs created. This NY Times article points out that employers added 162,000 jobs in the month of March. Despite this, the unemployment rate held steady at 9.7%. Nigel Gault, an economist from HIS Global Insight, noted in the Times article, "The key message from this report is that we've finally turned the corner...going forward, we should expect things to strengthen further over the rest of the year." Obama also commented on the news which speaking in Charlotte N.C., remarking, "the best news we've seen on the job front in more then two years." The Times article further notes that the largest job gains were seen within the Health Care industry, which added 40,000 jobs last month. On caveat, however, is that the temporary hiring for the 2010 Census accounted for one third of all jobs created.
Here is an interesting exchange between two Congressman on CNBC regarding how these numbers will be played politically:
In the end, this news will be beneficial for President Obama and his approval ratings. According to Real Clear Politics, President Obama's average approval rating is 47.8%. By and large, Obama's approval ratings weren't drastically changed by the passage of Health Insurance Reform. This suggests that the American public is still waiting to see major economic gains. Ultimately, positive approval ratings have historically been correlated with a strong economy, so any good news on this front is bound to help President Obama.
Additionally, here is an interesting Harris Interactive Poll. According to the poll, two thirds of all Americans believe that creating jobs now is more important then controlling the deficit. Also, 49% of of Americans believe that more government spending increases job growth, while only 22% believe the opposite.
The results of this poll suggest that the government should be focusing, now, on taking whatever measures are necessary to promote job growth. While there is still some scholarly debate regarding whether or not massive government spending is the answer (See Robbie Moore Interview vs. Robert Polin's 18 Million Jobs piece), at least the government knows that most Americans want jobs right now.
Friday, April 2, 2010
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment