Disappointing August Job Gains Tied to Covid Restrictions, Politics

Competitive Enterprise Institute experts commented on today’s disappointing news about August job gains, urging policy makers to reject restrictions and politics and look for ways to lift barriers to economic recovery.

Sean Higgins, CEI research fellow:

“Friday’s Labor Department report https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf that the nation gained only 235,000 jobs in August was well below the gains of the previous months and proof that re-instituting Covid-related restrictions has created a serious drag on the recovery. Prior to August, the economy had been growing by more than a half million jobs a month. The department’s report is a reminder that there is a stark cost to restrictions and officials must be mindful of broader consequences. The economy has been resilient so far, but that was partly because the end appeared to be in sight. New uncertainty is undermining that.

“The number of people who reported being unable to work for pandemic-related reasons was 5.6 million, an abrupt rise of 400,000 in a single month. The leisure and hospitality industry, usually the first to feel the effects of covid-related policies reported no gains in August due to a loss of 42,000 jobs in restaurants and bars wiping out all other gains. That’s a serious blow to people who have already endured a year and a half of difficult times.

Ryan Young, CEI senior fellow:

“Covid’s delta variant is showing up in economic statistics now, not just health statistics. Payrolls are still growing, on net, and will likely to continue to grow for the rest of the year. But that growth will be slower than it otherwise would be, in part because some people simply insist on turning vaccines and masks into political issues. Today’s tendency to turn everything into a culture war bears a lot of the blame for low vaccination rates. This in turn makes people more reluctant to travel, dine out, and attend events, which is where a lot of vulnerable jobs are being lost.

“There isn’t much policymakers can do about cultural attitudes, since mandates tend to backfire; but there is plenty they can do to roll back regulatory, licensing, and financial regulations that are blocking businesses from opening, staying afloat, or even expanding. Policymakers can also restore confidence by walking back unnecessary multi-trillion dollar spending projects that have more to do with politics than economic recovery.”