White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders opened Friday’s press conference by contrasting massive manufacturing jobs losses under Obama to the nearly three million U.S. jobs added since Donald Trump was elected President.
Sanders pointed to Obama-era manufacturing job losses of 1,000 each month, but said that since President Donald Trump was elected the U.S. had added 275,000 manufacturing jobs.
February jobs numbers released earlier in the day revealed a much higher than anticipated job creation total of 313,000. Before the numbers came out, estimates sat at around 200,000 for non-farm job increases.
She then credited Trump-era tax cuts and deregulation for acting as a driver to the nearly three million new jobs added.
“The federal government is getting out of the way and the American people are innovating, building, and creating jobs,” said Sanders.
Industries leading in jobs increases were construction, retail and business services, manufacturing, finance, healthcare, and mining. Jobs total reports for December and January were also revised upward.
The February jobs numbers represented the highest gain in a year and a half, according to MarketWatch.
The news comes the same week that Trump made tariffs of 25 percent on steel imports and 10 percent on aluminum official. The decision brought both praise and criticism. Canada and Mexico have been temporarily exempted from the tariffs pending NAFTA negotiations. Other countries have been extended the opportunity to request relief if they can provide alternative remedy for national defense concerns.
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