The latest(April) job report is out. Unemployment-wise, here is what it shows:
-As mentioned in my previous blog, unemployment is down to 3.6% in total. That is the lowest since 1969.
–Hispanic unemployment fell to 4.2%. This is the lowest level in Bureau of Labor Statistics history.
-Not to be outdone, female unemployment fell to 3.4%, the lowest since 1953. And I assume I don’t have to remind you that the kind of jobs women hold today are far, far more diverse than those they were able to get 66 years ago.
-And Black unemployment has held at 6.7%; above its all-time low of 5.9% last May, but below the 7.7% rate when President Trump took office…
…and far below the double-digit average (12.9%) during President Obama’s years as President.
Even if you eliminate President Obama’s entire first term on the grounds that Black unemployment was caused by the recession he inherited, average Black unemployment during Mr. Obama’s second term averaged 10.7% – significantly higher than where it is now.
The bottom line? Job numbers are terrific. And especially terrific for minorities and women – the specific population segments which, Democrats hope, will ride them to victory in 2020.
Look, a lot can happen between now and then. There certainly are no guarantees that the economy will stay strong and job data will be this good come next year’s presidential campaign.
But if I were a Democrat, the data we have now, and the possibility this good news might hold, would keep me up nights.
The sad reality is that, from a purely political standpoint, the worse we do between now and election day next year, the better off Democrats are.
Not a great place to be.
