December 09, 2017
Of course, The Washington Post would never make such an assertion, even if there is good reason to think that it is true. Instead, an article on Friday’s jobs report told readers:
“President Trump and Republicans on Capitol Hill have said they hope to pass sweeping changes to the tax code by the end of December, a move they believe will create more good-paying jobs and supercharge economic growth.”
This is again an inexplicable excursion into mind reading. The Post really has no idea what Republican politicians believe. Why is it so hard to just report what they say and leave the speculation on their true beliefs to readers?
This piece also included an inaccurate statement from Jason Furman, who served as President Obama’s chief economist. He quotes Furman as saying:
“‘They’re [workers] more confidently quitting their jobs to find another. Everything with the way people are behaving is consistent with the strength in the labor market. But wages just aren’t picking up the way we thought they would.'”
In fact, the share of unemployment due to people voluntarily quitting their jobs is much lower than it has been in the past when the unemployment rate got this low. The most recent numbers put the share of unemployment due to voluntary quits at just over 11.0 percent. By contrast in 1999 and 2000, the share was over 13 percent and peaked at more than 15.0 percent. This suggests that workers are much less confident in their job prospects than they were the last time the unemployment rate was near 4.0 percent.
Percent of Unemployment Due to Job Leavers
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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