Gallup's monthly
U.S. Job Creation Index climbed to +32 in March, matching the highest level of its eight-year history. The increase from February's +29 reading is the first upward movement since May of last year, when the index first reached the +32 level.
The increase came as the hiring picture improved for government workers.
Gallup's initial measurement of hiring activity in January 2008 recorded a +26 score, but the index dropped steadily for the next 13 months in the midst of the nation's economic crash, he polling firm reported. After bottoming out in February 2009 at minus-5 — a month when 28% of workers reported workforce reductions, while only 23% reported increases — the index has taken a slow, bumpy path upward, with major gains in 2010 and 2014.
“A three-point or greater increase in the monthly Job Creation Index may not seem impressive at first glance, but it has been achieved only six times in the eight-plus years since the index was created — and had not occurred since May 2013,” Gallup explained.
But many respected financial and economic pundits disagree with any alleged evidence of an improving labor market.
Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump, for one, disputes the official employment data released by the U.S. government.
For example, the national unemployment rate for March is 5 percent, according to the
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“We’re not at 5 percent unemployment," the developer told
Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Robert Costa. "We’re at a number that’s probably into the twenties, if you look at the real number,” Trump said. "That was a number that was devised, statistically devised to make politicians — and in particular presidents — look good," Trump added. "And I wouldn’t be getting the kind of massive crowds that I’m getting if the number was a real number."
Trump also predicted a "very massive recession" soon in the United States, saying that "it’s a terrible time right now" to invest in the stock market — though he claimed that he could eliminate the nation's $19 trillion debt over a period of eight years.
"I think we’re sitting on an economic bubble," he said. "A financial bubble."
Meanwhile, Newsmax Finance Insider
David Stockman has explained the “Trump phenomenon as a 'repudiation' of the failed economic policy that presently dominates Washington,”
Seeking Alpha explained.
During a recent
Bloomberg TV appearance when one of the Bloomberg commentators returned to well-worn bullet points and claimed "we've created, like, millions of jobs" since the last recession, Stockman's response was "no we haven't."
Stockman went on to note that "if we look at real jobs, at full time jobs, there are no more today than in December [2007]."
“The larger problem, Stockman notes, stems from a complete lack of context when using the "millions of jobs" claim, since job gains in recent years, when compared to past economic cycles, are anemic at best,” Seeking Alpha reported.
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