On May 15, President Donald Trump retweeted an article on the job openings record—a boon for his core campaign promise of reviving the economy.
The government swelled by some 32,000 job openings in March.
Some 3.34 million people quit their jobs in March, up 136,000 from February, which signals that U.S. workers are becoming more willing to leave their jobs for new ones.
The unemployment rate was 4.1 percent in March, meaning the country had almost as many job openings as unemployed people. The job openings survey is delayed by one month, but the unemployment numbers for April are already out and stand at 3.9 percent. The only time it has ever dropped so low since 1969 was in April 2000—and only for one month.
Since many economists consider a 4 percent unemployment rate synonymous with full employment, it may seem that employers are adding positions that can’t be filled. But the unemployment figure can be deceiving, as it does not include those who haven’t sought a job over the previous four weeks.
Part of the April drop in the unemployment rate was due to more people leaving the workforce.
This number has been declining in recent years—a hint that more people who had given up on finding a job are now trying again and succeeding.
Tapping into this pool of potential workers, the job market seems to still have significant room for improvement. Bringing people back to the workforce was one of Trump’s campaign promises when he announced his candidacy on June 16, 2015.
“We have people that aren’t working. We have people that have no incentive to work. But they’re going to have incentive to work, because the greatest social program is a job,” he said in his announcement speech at Trump Tower.
He hasn’t stopped emphasizing the point since.
“Here’s a great stat—since January 2017, the number of people forced to use food stamps is down 1.9 million. The American people are finally back to work!” he wrote in a tweet on April 23.
Workers are also starting to see higher take-home pay, as lower withholdings due to Trump’s tax cuts are kicking in.
Surveys suggested many workers did not see the tax cut boost to their paychecks until late in the first quarter.
Household disposable income increased at a rate of 3.4 percent in the first quarter, accelerating from the fourth quarter’s 1.1 percent pace. Households also boosted savings.
The economy has been invigorated by the “Trump effect”—a boost to confidence in the economy linked to Trump’s cuts to regulations, taxes, and planned investment in infrastructure.
