The real problem with the economy? Rising inflation means people's paychecks are shrinking, economist Stephen Moore, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation and a former senior economic adviser under ex-President Donald Trump, said on Newsmax Friday.
He said forget about jobs.
"If you want a job, they're out there," Moore told Newsmax's "National Report," while discussing Friday's report from the Labor Department that revealed there were far fewer new jobs reported in November than had been anticipated and that the unemployment rate had dropped from 4.6% in October to 4.2% in November.
"I think the bigger problem is not jobs," said Moore, adding that with wages going up by about 3% in 2021, inflation is still running at 2%, meaning that the "dollars in your pocket are not buying as much."
According to data from The Conference Board, pay raises appear to be returning to what they were before the pandemic. The budgeted median salary increase was 3% and will be about that in 2022.
"It means when you go to the gas station you pay $20 more for fuel," said Moore. "Every survey is showing Americans are really feeling the financial pinch of this inflation. I know I am.
"Every time I go to the gas pump, people are grumbling about how much they're paying for gasoline."
Meanwhile, the Labor Department's report indicated that 210,000 jobs were added to the economy, falling far below estimates that had averaged about 550,000 new jobs, and Moore called those numbers "confusing."
"There were actually two surveys that were done," said Moore. "One was of companies and they indicated only 265,000 jobs came. We also do the survey of households and that survey found over 500,000 jobs created so we're all trying to scratch our heads figuring out what happened there."
But at any rate, "it's a very solid job market for anybody that wants a job," said Moore. "Those jobs are out there; no questions about it. The problem is actually the supply of workers, not the supply of jobs."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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