Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's focus on U.S. jobs losses makes a lot of sense, says New York Post columnist John Crudele.
And that focus could make him a "very important factor in the 2016 election,"
Crudele writes.
"Jobs was the chief thing on people’s minds in 2012 and during the last congressional election in 2014. It still is today and will be throughout the primaries and right up to the 2016 election."
Americans are concerned about immigrants snapping up limited job openings and China replacing U.S. manufacturing jobs, he says.
"One group in this country doesn’t like another group because we are all fighting for the same jobs," Crudele states. "Jobs, jobs, jobs! If Trump is smart, he’ll keep repeating that message. And if he starts showing any strength in the polls, which I think he will, the army of other candidates will start parroting his message."
While the 5.5 unemployment rate isn't far from a seven-year low, the labor-force participation rate of 62.9 percent isn't far from a 37-year low.
Many analysts have expressed enthusiasm about the labor market since the government reported this month that more job openings exist than ever before.
But hold on to your hat, says Washington Post
columnist Catherine Rampell. Why are there so many jobs openings? "Because many companies are acting like big teases," she writes.
"They say they want to hire, then drag their feet. In fact, the average time required to fill a job opening has also just reached an all-time high: 27.3 days." That's up about 50 percent over the past six years.
Steven Davis, an economist at the University of Chicago, offers two possible explanations for the long duration of vacancies.
"One is that innovations in the recruiting process, such as the use of LinkedIn, have made it easier for employers to locate workers who already have jobs and are not actively seeking new positions," Rampell writes.
Second, employment law has changed, Davis says. Some states have curbed companies' ability to dump workers at will, for example.
Related Stories