Manufacturing job creation in February was running at its fastest pace since late 2014, according to Friday’s jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, giving President Trump a hot start in an area of focus for him.
The manufacturing sector added 28,000 jobs in the month, the most in more than a year, led by gains in food and machinery manufacturing.
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The sector has been hot recently. Over the past three months, monthly job gains have averaged 19,000, the strongest pace since December of 2014.
“Nothing wrong with this economy that the new president needs to fix, although there will probably be some mention from Washington that 28K in manufacturing jobs were brought back in February in Trump’s first month in office,” MUFG Union Bank economist Chris Rupkey commented.
Manufacturing has suffered in recent years in large part thanks to a major strengthening in the dollar. The dollar rose by about a quarter against a basket of currencies from mid-2014 to the end of 2015.
The stronger dollar made it more expensive for consumers in other countries to buy U.S. goods, crimping exports and leading to layoffs or weak job growth among manufacturers.
Although Trump cannot claim credit for all of the past three months’ worth of gains, the president has prioritized manufacturing jobs at risk of being lost in trade trends or through outsourcing.
