Trump economy working for bottom 10% of Americans: Hassett
It’s only been two years, and President Trump’s growth agenda is already working for bottom 10 percent of Americans, according to White House Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Kevin Hassett.
“One of the things that we see in the data right now is that blue collar workers' wages, production and non-supervisory workers, they’re up about $50 dollars a week in earnings and that’s about 2,500 bucks a year, just for one worker,” said Hassett to FOXBusiness’ Stuart Varney on Wednesday. “If there’s a two-worker family, they are way above the $4,000 that President Trump promised.”
In January, hourly earnings rose by 3 cents to $27.56, according to the Department of Labor. And in the last year alone, average hourly earnings have increased by a total of 84 cents. According to Hassett, the bottom decile is experiencing unprecedented wage growth.
“If you look at wage growth for the bottom decile, the bottom 10 percent of Americans, it’s right now the highest on record going all the way back to 2000 when the [Bureau of Labor Statistics] started reporting it,” said Hassett. “We’ve never seen wage growth like that for the bottom decile.”
What’s more, consumer sentiment is strong. Since Trump was elected, sentiment has increased 33 percent for the bottom third of Americans, according to data from the University of Michigan’s consumer survey, Hassett said.
“So there’s skyrocketing sentiment for people at the bottom, skyrocketing wages for people at the bottom,” he said. “If you’re an evidence-based person that cares about social justice then you should be euphoric over how our economy has changed.”