White House trade adviser Peter Navarro on trade deficit narrows for first time in 6 years
U.S. employers added 225,000 jobs in January which lifted the unemployment rate to 3.6%; White House trade adviser Peter Navarro weighs in.
In the wake of another strong jobs report, White House trade adviser Peter Navarro joined Fox News Friday to point out what he called the “untold story” of President Trump’s “everyday focus on job creation.”
“Millions of people have come into the job market," Navarro told “America’s Newsroom.” "Those discouraged workers that were on the couch during the ‘Obiden’ years -- they’re coming back and the labor force participation rate has bumped up."
US JOB GROWTH SURGES IN JANUARY, WITH 225,000 ADDED
Navarro stated that Trump not only takes a “macro-approach” to job creation with actions such as deregulation and tax cuts, he also “takes it from a micro-point.”
"It’s shipyards in [Philadelphia, Pennsylvania], Marinette, Wisconsin, [Panama City, Florida]; it’s combat vehicle plants in places like Lima, Ohio, York, Pennsylvania, it’s an F-16 production line in Greenville, South Carolina -- these are things that all happened because President Donald J. Trump focuses on job creation every day.
“We’re seeing the fruits of that and it’s a beautiful thing,” Navarro said.
Navarro's comments came after the Labor Department reported that U.S. hiring topped expectations in January, as the economy added 225,000 jobs, kicking off the decade on a stronger-than-expected note. It marks the 112th month of straight gains.
Unemployment ticked up slightly to 3.6 percent, as more people were looking for work, the report said. The labor force participation rate edged up slightly to 63.4 percent. Average hourly earnings, meanwhile, rose by 7 cents over the past year to $28.44.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Powered by an unseasonably warm winter, the first payroll number for 2020 surged past the estimate of 160,000 from economists surveyed by Refinitiv, who also saw the unemployment rate holding steady from December's 3.5 percent, a half-century low.
As the U.S. continues the longest economic expansion on record, investors are looking at the Department of Labor’s monthly payroll and unemployment data for signs that the rapid job growth over the past two years is softening and leading way to an overall growth slowdown.
Fox News' Megan Henney contributed to this report.