WEST WING READS 09/06/2019 157,878 NEW JOBS ADDED IN AUGUST!

Record 157,878,000 Employed in August “The number of people employed in the United States hit a record 157,878,000 in August, the 21st record set under President Donald Trump, according to the employment report released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics,” Susan Jones reports for CNS News. “The unemployment rate held steady at 3.7 percent. For blacks, the unemployment rate dropped to a record low of 5.5 percent last month. And for Hispanics, the unemployment rate was 4.2 percent in August, which ties the record low set earlier this year.” Click here to read more.

“It’s been a lost summer for the Washington Post,” White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham and Principal Deputy Press Secretary Hogan Gidley write in the Washington Examiner. “Despite record-setting accomplishments in record-setting time, data shows the news coverage of Trump has been 92% negative. The most egregious and dangerous forms of this bias thrived this summer at media outlets like the Washington Post, which routinely masquerade opinion as news.”

“Ivanka Trump met Thursday with female entrepreneurs in the Argentine province of Jujuy as part of her five-day tour of South America,” The Associated Press reports. “The trip by U.S. President Donald Trump's daughter and special adviser is aimed at promoting a White House initiative for the economic empowerment of women. In Argentina, she participated in a micro-financing class for female entrepreneurs who have received microcredits financed by the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, or OPIC.”

“A great U.S. job market for workers at small firms got a little better in August. That’s according to the latest monthly employment survey from the National Federation of Independent Business,” James Freeman writes in The Wall Street Journal. “The news today on small business hiring is that recession is still nowhere in sight.”

“The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was ratified by Congress and signed by President Bill Clinton in 1993. In the 26 years since, the need to update and amend the agreement has become clear,” Gov. Eric Holcomb (R-IN) writes in the Courier & Press. For example, “under USMCA, the portion of a car that needs to be produced in North America to avoid tariffs will increase from 62.5% to 75%. USMCA also requires at least 40% of parts from factories where the average wage is $16 an hour.”