The Trump administration’s efforts to reduce regulations, approve tax-cuts, and introduce stricter standards for welfare programs across the country- has paid off.
According to the new unemployment statistics for December, the unemployment rate for minorities is at a historic low.
The rate dropped to 6.8 percent in December, which is the lowest recorded rate it has ever been. Right before President Donald Trump was elected, in October 2016, it was at 8.3 percent.
The Hispanic unemployment rate is also down to 4.9 percent in December, which is much less than the 5.7 percent it was in October 2016. The rate remained below 5 percent for four months in a row, which is the first time this has happened in the last 44 years.
Medicaid enrollment has already fallen by about 500,000, according to October data. Food stamp enrollment has declined by 2.7 percent from September 2016 to September 2017.
“This trend is exactly what we want to see,” said Elise Gould, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute. “While the unemployment rates for workers of color remain far higher than for white non-Hispanic workers, the black unemployment rate has been falling faster than overall unemployment over the last year.”
Trump was quick to applaud this achievement,
“The African American unemployment rate fell to 6.8%, the lowest rate in 45 years. I am so happy about this News! And, in the Washington Post (of all places), headline states, “Trump’s first year jobs numbers were very, very good,” tweeted Trump.
The overall unemployment rate was 4.1 percent in December. Although this is unchanged from November, this is a drastic improvement from the 4.9 percent in October 2016.
“The overall unemployment rate, which by October had dropped to 4.1 percent, represented a 17-year low by year’s end. The benefits of the low rates were felt broadly, resulting in unemployment rates for America’s veterans, African-Americans and Hispanics that reached historic lows in 2017,” wrote the Council of Economic Advisors in a statement on Friday.
The Obama administration added over 20,000 regulations in eight years, while Trump has been on a mission to roll back these business-halting regulations.
“Within the first 11 months, we canceled or delayed over 1,500 planned regulatory actions, more than any previous president, by far,” said Trump in December. “And you see the results, when you look at the stock market, the results of companies, and when you see companies coming back into our country.”
The Trump administration has said that the cut in regulations will amount to $8.1 billion in net savings.
Last week, Trump announced yet another move to create more jobs for Americans. Besides approving the Dakota Access and Keystone XL oil pipelines earlier this year, he announced a plan to drastically expand offshore drilling for oil and natural gas of the coast.
Author’s Note: Trump promised that minorities would do better under him than Obama or Hillary. These numbers prove just that. Trump is all about action, while Obama was all about words.