White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said Friday he is “not even a little bit” disappointed in the latest jobs report, which showed the economy added just 29,000 jobs, arguing that President Trump’s supply-side policies are “realigning the American economy in a very positive way.”
Hassett made the comments on Fox Business Network’s “Varney & Co.” after host Stuart Varney pressed him on the modest jobs number. “Investors like this report. The Fed, I think, will like this report. But you may be a bit disappointed that you’ve only got 29,000 jobs added to the economy. Disappointed a little?” Varney asked.
“No. Not even a little bit,” Hassett replied.
Hassett pointed to specific categories within the report to make his case. He said government employment fell while employment “for everything else was up,” and highlighted factory construction jobs, which he said rose by about 12,000 — though he noted “there might be a rounding difference between me and Ed.”
“The 12,000 jobs means there are 112,000 people working, building factories right now that weren’t doing that when President Trump took office,” Hassett said, tying the figure to this week’s GDP revision, which he said was pushed up “dramatically” by capital spending, much of it tied to factory construction.
Hassett also argued that a supply-side expansion puts downward pressure on inflation. He cited the three-month moving average of core PCE inflation, released this week, which he said stands at an annual rate of 2 percent. Including food and energy, he said, that figure falls to 1 percent.
“So, our policies are working. We’ve got low inflation and high growth,” Hassett said. “And, by the way, GDP is still around four percent.”
