The White House said Tuesday that the share of Americans in the workforce is stabilizing, and President Trump is pushing for policies to encourage even\u2026<\/b>
\nThe White House said Tuesday that the share of Americans in the workforce is stabilizing, and President Trump is pushing for policies to encourage even more people to work as baby boomers near retirement.
Rising wages, declining regulatory costs and an increase in blue-collar manufacturing jobs have helped the labor-force participation rate to steady around 63 percent, White House economic officials said, after years of decline in an aging population.
The CEA\u2019s annual Economic Report to the President also shows that businesses are investing and taking out more loans, which officials said is good for the economy and American families. Commercial and industrial loans now exceed $2 trillion \u2014 the highest ever recorded.
CEA Chairman Kevin Hassett and others credited the president\u2019s 2017 tax cuts for businesses and individuals with spurring growth. They said real GDP in 2018 would have been 0.9 percent less than the actual rate of 3.1 percent without the tax relief.
Mr. Hassett said the manufacturing sector was hardest hit prior to the Trump administration because \u201cwe were the highest-taxed place on Earth.\u201d He pushed back against critics who said the benefits of the tax cuts were a short-term \u201csugar high.\u201d
\u201cIt\u2019s not a sugar high at all,\u201d Mr. Hassett said. \u201cWe actually cut taxes to encourage people to build new factories. That\u2019s a fundamental shift.\u201d
While he said a recession next year \u201cis not impossible,\u201d it would be \u201cvery unusual\u201d given the current level of capital spending.
The unemployment rate in February was 3.8 percent, near historic lows. Because of that, officials said, more workers are coming \u201coff the sidelines\u201d rather than returning from unemployed status.<\/p>\n