After many months of robust growth--credit to President Donald Trump on those, as we've gladly given in this column--the job market screeched to a halt in February, adding just 20,000 payroll positions. The good news is wages are still on the rise.
We do not offer this as evidence that the economy is suddenly sputtering. Averages mean much more. Single months could well turn out to be hiccups.
It is, however, worth note that Trump's first 25 full months, including his massive tax cut, much-ballyhooed "regulatory relief," trade wars, attack on the Affordable Care Act and all, have yielded 4.9 million new jobs. The last 25 full months of the man Trump and Republicans portray as a job killer, President Obama, yielded 5.3 million new jobs. This number is larger than the other.
Meantime, the deficit is spiking.
Editorial on 03/14/2019